Optimization of narrowband photon pair generation in Doppler-broadened atomic vapors
Phys. Rev. A 113, 043702 – Published 1 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/drw8-l297
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate biphoton generation via spontaneous four-wave mixing in Doppler-broadened atomic vapors. Thermal motion breaks the zero-temperature symmetry between copropagating and counterpropagating geometries and introduces competition between the biphoton generation rate and propagation loss. A temperature-dependent pump-detuning scheme restores an approximate mirror symmetry between the frequency-resolved responses of the two geometries, yielding nearly identical biphoton generation rates and correlation strengths over a broad temperature range. We find that increasing atomic thermal velocity drives the temporal correlation function from damped oscillations at low temperatures to a purely exponential decay at higher temperatures by enhancing decoherence and pushing the effective Rabi frequency into the imaginary regime. This behavior is captured analytically through the temperature-dependent modification of the poles governing the oscillatory correlations. The generated biphotons retain strong nonclassical character, accompanied by spectral narrowing and temperature-induced temporal broadening. Numerical simulations incorporating Doppler averaging validate these predictions, quantify the model's accuracy, and confirm that the same qualitative trends persist at higher optical depths. These results identify a simple and tunable route to narrowband biphoton generation in warm vapors, with direct relevance to quantum memories and long-distance quantum communication.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
- Effects of atomic coherence on light propagation
- Electric dipole-dipole interactions
- Nonlinear optical susceptibility
- Optical coherence
- Photon pairs & parametric down-conversion
- Quantum description of light-matter interaction
- Third order nonlinear optical processes
- Atomic ensemble
- Polarizability
- Dipole approximation
- Four-wave mixing
- Perturbative methods
- Rotating wave approximation