Widely tunable single photon source with high purity at telecom wavelength

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the spectral tunability and purity of photon pairs generated from spontaneous parametric down conversion in periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal with group-velocity matching condition. The numerical simulation predicts that the spectral purity can be kept higher than 0.81 when the wavelength is tuned from 1460 nm to 1675 nm, which covers the S-, C-, L-, and U-band in telecommunication wavelengths. We also experimentally measured the joint spectral intensity at 1565 nm, 1584 nm and 1565 nm, yielding Schmidt numbers of 1.01, 1.02 and 1.04, respectively. Such a photon source is useful for quantum information and communication systems. (c) 2013 Optical Society of America