Integrated, bright, broadband parametric down-conversion source for quantum metrology and spectroscopy

Broadband quantum light is a vital resource for quantum metrology and spectroscopy applications such as quantum optical coherence tomography or entangled two photon absorption. For entangled two photon absorption in particular, very high photon flux combined with high time-frequency entanglement is crucial for observing a signal. So far these conditions could be met by using high power lasers driving degenerate, type 0 bulk-crystal spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources. This naturally limits the available wavelength ranges and precludes deterministic splitting of the generated output photons. In this work we demonstrate an integrated two-colour SPDC source utilising a group-velocity matched lithium niobate waveguide, reaching both exceptional brightness 1.52·10^6pairs/s mW GHz and large bandwidth (7.8THz FWHM) while pumped with a few mW of continuous wave (CW) laser light. By converting a narrow band pump to broadband pulses the created photon pairs show correlation times of Δτ≈ 120 fs while maintaining the narrow bandwidth Δω_p ≪ 1 MHz of the CW pump light, yielding strong time-frequency entanglement. Furthermore our process can be adapted to a wide range of central wavelengths.