Quantum state engineering of pulsed light in non-linear waveguides

The standard approach for introducing the quantization of optical light is based on monochromatic light fields, however this description is not sufficient for the definition of quantum light pulses. Their finite time duration necessarily requires that polychromatic wave packets with a broad spectral distribution are considered. Pulsed multi-photon states of light typically carry an implicit spectral broadband mode structure, which is imprinted by the spectral correlations originating from the generation process. Recent developments have enabled us to control the spectral properties of such multi-mode pulsed states, which opens a new route for quantum information applications.We have implenented a pulsed parametric downconversion source in a waveguide, which can be tuned from genuine single mode to multi-mode characteristics by modifiying the bandwidth of the ultrafast pump pulses. Our generated signal and idler beams of the PDC output twin beams lie in the telecommunication regime, and the source features an exceptional brightness with 2.5 photons per pulse utilizing a single pass configuration. We verify the broadband single mode versus multi-mode structure by analysing the marginal g(2)-Glauber correlation function of the signal and idler beams while modifing the their spectral inter correlations.