High coherence photon pair source for quantum communication

This paper reports a novel single mode source of narrow-band entangled photon pairs at telecom wavelengths under continuous wave (CW) excitation, based on parametric down conversion. For only 7 mW of pump power it has a created spectral radiance of 0.08 pairs per coherence length and a bandwidth of 10 pm (1.2 GHz). The effectively emitted spectral brightness reaches 3.9 × 10 5 pairs s −1 pm −1 . Furthermore, when combined with low jitter single photon detectors, such sources allow for the implementation of quantum communication protocols without any active synchronization or path length stabilization. A Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM)-dip with photons from two autonomous CW sources has been realized demonstrating the setup's stability and performance.