Generation of time-bin entangled photon pairs by cascaded second-order nonlinearity in a single periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguide

Entangled photon pairs are one of the most important resources for the development of quantum communication technologies. In order to produce pulsed photon pairs in the telecommunication band from 1.5 mu m pump light, most of the previous experiments used two successive periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides. We report what we believe to be a new method using cascaded second-order nonlinearity in a single PPLN waveguide to produce high-purity time-bin entangled photon pairs. We confirmed the generation of entanglement through a two-photon interference experiment showing a coincidence fringe with a visibility of up to 97%. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America