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Miller, A. J., Lita, A. E., Calkins, B., Vayshenker, I., Gruber, S. M., & Nam, S. W. (2011). Compact cryogenic self-aligning fiber-to-detector coupling with losses below one percent. Opt. Express, 19(10), 9102–9110.
Abstract: We present a compact packaging technique for coupling light from a single-mode telecommunication fiber to cryogenic single-photon sensitive devices. Our single-photon detectors are superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) with a collection area only a factor of a few larger than the area of the fiber core which presents significant challenges to low-loss fiber-to-detector coupling. The coupling method presented here has low loss, cryogenic compatibility, easy and reproducible assembly and low component cost. The system efficiency of the packaged single-photon counting detectors is verified by the “triplet method†of power-source calibration along with the “multiple attenuator†method that produces a calibrated single-photon flux. These calibration techniques, when used in combination with through-wafer imaging and fiber back-reflection measurements, give us confidence that we have achieved coupling losses below 1 % for all devices packaged according to the self-alignment method presented in this paper.
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Smith, D. H., Gillett, G., de Almeida, M. P., Branciard, C., Fedrizzi, A., Weinhold, T. J., et al. (2012). Conclusive quantum steering with superconducting transition-edge sensors. Nat. Comm., 3(625), 6.
Abstract: Quantum steering allows two parties to verify shared entanglement even if one measurement device is untrusted. A conclusive demonstration of steering through the violation of a steering inequality is of considerable fundamental interest and opens up applications in quantum communication. To date, all experimental tests with single-photon states have relied on post selection, allowing untrusted devices to cheat by hiding unfavourable events in losses. Here we close this 'detection loophole' by combining a highly efficient source of entangled photon pairs with superconducting transition-edge sensors. We achieve an unprecedented ~62% conditional detection efficiency of entangled photons and violate a steering inequality with the minimal number of measurement settings by 48 s.d.s. Our results provide a clear path to practical applications of steering and to a photonic loophole-free Bell test.
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