A user-friendly fibre-coupled single-photon source operating at telecom wavelengths is a key component of photonic quantum networks providing long-haul ultra-secure data exchange. To take full advantage of quantum-mechanical data protection and to maximize the transmission rate and distance, a true quantum source providing single-photons on demand is highly desirable. We tackle this great challenge by developing a ready to use semiconductor quantum dot (QD)-based device that launches single photons at a wavelength of 1.3 um directly into a single-mode optical fibre. In our approach the QD is deterministically integrated into a nanophotonic structure to ensure efficient on-chip coupling into a fibre. The whole arrangement is integrated into a 19" compatible housing to enable stand-alone operation by cooling via a compact Stirling cryocooler. The realized source delivers single photons with multiphoton events probability as low as 0.15 and single-photon emission rate up to 73 kHz into a standard telecom single-mode fibre.
@article{arxiv.1912.10351,
title = {Plug&play fibre-coupled 73 kHz single-photon source operating in the telecom O-band},
author = {Anna Musial and Kinga Zolnacz and Nicole Srocka and Oleh Kravets and Jan Große and Jacek Olszewski and Krzysztof Poturaj and Grzegorz Wojcik and Pawel Mergo and Kamil Dybka and Mariusz Dyrkacz and Michal Dlubek and Kristian Lauritsen and Andreas Bülter and Philipp-Immanuel Schneider and Lin Zschiedrich and Sven Burger and Sven Rodt and Waclaw Urbanczyk and Grzegorz Sek and Stephan Reitzenstein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1912.10351},
year = {2020}
}