title: Efficient generation of correlated photon pairs in a microstructure fiber.
abstract: We report efficient generation of correlated photon pairs through degenerate four-wave mixing in a microstructure fiber. With 735.7 nm pump pulses producing correlated signal (688.5 nm) and idler (789.8 nm) photons in a 1.8 m microstructure fiber, we detect photon pairs at a rate of 37.6 kHz with a coincidence/ accidental contrast of 10:1 with deltalambda = 0.7 nm. This is the highest rate to our knowledge reported to date in a fiber-based photon source. The light source is highly nonclassical as defined by the Zou-Wang-Mandel inequality, which is violated by 1100 times the uncertainty.
authors.affiliation: Optical Technology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8441, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8441, USA. Jfan@nist.gov
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Migdall
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wang