- Letter
Ultrafast measurement of energy-time entanglement with an optical Kerr shutter
Phys. Rev. A 108, L041503 – Published 25 October, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.108.L041503
Abstract
The energy-time degree of freedom has emerged as a promising avenue for photonic quantum technologies due to its intrinsic robustness against decoherence; however, the timescales associated with energy-time entangled photons make for difficult measurement and manipulation. We implement two optical Kerr gates, in short (35 mm) pieces of single-mode fiber, to achieve ultrafast measurement of the time correlations of energy-time entangled photon pairs, with resolutions of fs and fs for signal and idler photons, respectively. These measurements, in addition to joint spectral measurements of the photon-pair state, are used to verify entanglement by means of the violation of a time-bandwidth inequality. Without the need for an interferometric setup or frequency conversion, the optical Kerr shutter is a valuable addition to the ultrafast quantum optics control and metrology toolbox.