High-visibility two-photon interference in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC

Abstract

Summary form only given. By far the most efficient source of two-particle entangled state is spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC). Especially, cw laser pumped type-II SPDC has been widely treated as a good source of entangled photon pairs, since one can easily prepare a polarization Bell state. However, femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC shows poor quantum interference visibility when a thick crystal is used. To restore the visibility, one has to use narrow-band spectral filters at the expense of available photon flux. We demonstrate a scheme for high-visibility two-photon interference with thick (3.4 mm.) type-II BaB2O4 (BBO) crystals in femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC. Polarization Bell states can be prepared using this method without spectral and amplitude post-selection.