English

Stable single-photon interference in a 1 km fiber-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer with continuous phase adjustment

Quantum Physics 2011-05-06 v2 Optics

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate stable and user-adjustable single-photon interference in a 1 km long fiber- optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer, using an active phase control system with the feedback provided by a classical laser. We are able to continuously tune the single-photon phase difference between the interferometer arms using a phase modulator, which is synchronized with the gate window of the single-photon detectors. The phase control system employs a piezoelectric fiber stretcher to stabilize the phase drift in the interferometer. A single-photon net visibility of 0.97 is obtained, yielding future possibilities for experimental realizations of quantum repeaters in optical fibers, and violation of Bell's inequalities using genuine energy-time entanglement

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1104.2866,
  title  = {Stable single-photon interference in a 1 km fiber-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer with continuous phase adjustment},
  author = {G. B. Xavier and J. P. von der Weid},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.2866},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

3 pages, 3 figures