Photon-pair generation in photonic crystal fibre with a 1.5 GHz modelocked VECSEL

Oliver J. Morris, Robert J. A. Francis-Jones, K.G. Wilcox, Anne C. Tropper, Peter J. Mosley

OAI: oai:purehost.bath.ac.uk:openaire_cris_publications/0a442267-a728-4239-8886-a4f11b5885b5 • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2014.02.003

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in optical fibre is a leading technique for generating high-quality photon pairs. We report the generation of photon pairs by spontaneous FWM in photonic crystal fibre pumped by a 1.5 GHz repetition-rate vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL). The photon pairs exhibit high count rates and a coincidence-to-accidental ratio of over 80. The VECSEL's high repetition-rate, high average power, tunability, and small footprint make this an attractive source for quantum key distribution and photonic quantum-state engineering.