Generation of High Purity Photon-Pair in a Short Highly Non-Linear Fiber

We generate photon pairs at telecom wavelength through a spontaneous four-wave mixing process in a short 10 m of highly nonlinear fiber. We use a counter propagating scheme to generate a correlated and entangled photon pair. We observe coincidence to accidental-coincidence ratio of 29 + or - 3 at room temperature (300 K) and as high as 130 + or - 5 when the fiber is cooled to liquid-nitrogen temperature (77 K). Two-photon interference with visibility 98% (92%) and the violation of Bell's inequality by 12 (approx. equal 5) standard deviation are observed at 77 K (300 K), respectively, without subtracting accidental-coincidence count. We obtain a photon-pair production rate about factor 3(2) higher than a 300 m dispersion-shifted fiber at 300 K (77 K). Optics Letters, Vol 38, Issue 1, pp. 73-75, 2012. The original document contains color images.