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  • Open Access

On-Chip Quantum Interference between Independent Lithium Niobate-on-Insulator Photon-Pair Sources

Robert J. Chapman*, Tristan Kuttner, Jost Kellner, Alessandra Sabatti, Andreas Maeder, Giovanni Finco, Fabian Kaufmann, and Rachel Grange

  • Optical Nanomaterial Group, Institute for Quantum Electronics, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland

  • *Contact author: rchapman@ethz.ch
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 223602 – Published 5 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n2y3-2bmz

Abstract

Generating and interfering nonclassical states of light is fundamental to optical quantum information science and technology. Quantum photonic integrated circuits provide one pathway towards scalability by combining nonlinear sources of nonclassical light and programmable circuits in centimeter-scale devices. The key requirements for quantum applications include efficient generation of indistinguishable photon-pairs and high-visibility programmable quantum interference. Here, we demonstrate a lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) integrated photonic circuit that generates a two-photon path-entangled state, and a programmable interferometer for quantum interference. We generate entangled photons with ∼2.3×108  pairs/s/mW brightness and perform quantum interference experiments on the chip with 96.8±3.6% visibility. LNOI is an emerging photonics technology that has revolutionized high-speed modulators and efficient frequency conversion. Our results provide a path towards large-scale integrated quantum photonics including efficient photon-pair generation and programmable circuits for applications such as boson sampling and quantum communications.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 223602– Published 5 June, 2025
  • Received 13 May 2024
  • Accepted 23 April 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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