A tunable transition metal dichalcogenide entangled photon-pair source
Entangled photon-pair sources are at the core of quantum applications like quantum key distribution, sensing, and imaging. Operation in space-limited and adverse environments such as in satellite-based and mobile communication requires robust entanglement sources with minimal size and weight requirements. Here, we meet this challenge by realizing a cubic micrometer scale entangled photon-pair source in a 3R-stacked transition metal dichalcogenide crystal. Its crystal symmetry enables the generation of polarization-entangled Bell states without additional components and provides tunability by simple control of the pump polarization. Remarkably, generation rate and state tuning are decoupled, leading to equal generation efficiency and no loss of entanglement. Combining transition metal dichalcogenides with monolithic cavities and integrated photonic circuitry or using quasi-phasematching opens the gate towards ultrasmall and scalable quantum devices.
Authors
- Anna Fedotova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4118-8789)
- Mina Afsharnia
- Sai Shradha
- Yuerui Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6131-3906)
- Jiří Janoušek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-8689)
- Frank Setzpfandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7919-8181)
- Elkin A. Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9215-7720)
- Fatemeh Abtahi
- Thomas Pertsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4889-0869)
- Maximilian A. Weissflog (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3091-1441)
- Inmaculada Pérez Pérez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7791-9813)
- Sebastian Ritter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1491-6098)
- Sina Saravi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4089-1189)
- Isabelle Staude (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8021-572X)
- Falk Eilenberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4646-2484)
- Benjamin Laudert
- Saniya Shinde (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9902-7945)
- Hao Qin
- Yilin Tang
Institutions
- Australian National University (AU)
- Helmholtz Institute Jena (DE)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (DE)
- Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE)
- Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (AU)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (DE)
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51843-3
- Citations
- 59
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 20.50
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme