We report on the experimental realization and characterization of an asynchronous heralded single photon source based on spontaneous parametric down conversion. Photons at 1550nm are heralded as being inside a single-mode fiber with more than 60% probability, and the multi-photon emission probability is reduced by up to a factor 600 compared to poissonian light sources. These figures of merit, together with the choice of telecom wavelength for the heralded photons are compatible with practical applications needing very efficient and robust single photon sources.
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0408136,
title = {High quality asynchronous heralded single photon source at telecom wavelength},
author = {Sylvain Fasel and Olivier Alibart and Alexios Beveratos and Sebastien Tanzilli and Hugo Zbinden and Pascal Baldi and Nicolas Gisin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0408136},
year = {2007}
}