Entanglement distribution over metropolitan fiber using an on-chip broadband polarization-entangled photon source

Entangled photon pairs are of crucial importance in quantum networks. For the future demands of large-scale and secure quantum communication, integrated photon sources are highly effective solutions. Here, we report entanglement distribution over 30 km in a metropolitan area using an on-chip broadband silicon nanowire biphoton polarization-entangled source based on a silicon-on-insulator platform. This source generates a continuous spectrum spanning the entire C band (4.5 THz), achieving locally detected coincidence counts of about 154 kHz within a 100-GHz bandwidth, making it suitable for long-distance entanglement distribution among multiple users. By combining this source with quantum entanglement, enhanced by high-precision clock synchronization that achieves a standard deviation of 56.8 ps over 600 s, we observe a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality by 27.8 standard deviations. Our results showcase the potential of silicon photonic technology as a scalable and practical platform for quantum technologies.