title: Highly efficient heralding of entangled single photons.
abstract: Single photons are an important prerequisite for a broad spectrum of quantum optical applications. We experimentally demonstrate a heralded single-photon source based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion in collinear bulk optics, and fiber-coupled bolometric transition-edge sensors. Without correcting for background, losses, or detection inefficiencies, we measure an overall heralding efficiency of 83%. By violating a Bell inequality, we confirm the single-photon character and high-quality entanglement of our heralded single photons which, in combination with the high heralding efficiency, are a necessary ingredient for advanced quantum communication protocols such as one-sided device-independent quantum key distribution.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramelow
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mech
authors.forename: Marissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giustina
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gröblacher
authors.forename: Witlef
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wieczorek
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lita
authors.forename: Brice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Calkins
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gerrits
authors.forename: Sae Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zeilinger
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ursin
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers