Collective biphoton temporal waveform of photon-pair generated from Doppler-broadened atomic ensemble

Abstract

Photonic quantum states generated from atomic ensembles will play important roles in future quantum networks and long-distance quantum communication because their advantages, such as universal identity and narrow spectral bandwidth, are essential for quantum nodes and quantum repeaters based on atomic ensembles. In this study, we report the collectively coherent superposition of biphoton wavefunction emitted from different velocity classes in a Doppler-broadened cascade-type atomic ensemble. We experimentally demonstrate that the three times difference of temporal width of both biphoton temporal waveforms varies dependent on the wavelengths of the signal and idler photons from both 6S1/2–6P3/2–6D5/2 and –8S1/2 transitions of 133Cs, corresponding to the idler and signal wavelengths of 852 nm–917 nm and 852 nm–795 nm, respectively. Our results help understand the characteristics of biphoton sources from a warm atomic ensemble and can be applied to long-distance quantum networks and practical quantum repeaters based on atom-photon interactions.