Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with a coexisting clock using transceivers for synchronization over deployed fiber

Abstract

Interference between independently generated photons is a key step towards distributing entanglement over long distances, but it requires synchronization between the distantly-located photon sources. Synchronizing the clocks of such photon sources using coexisting two-way classical optical communications over the same fiber that transports the quantum photonic signals is a promising approach for achieving photon–photon interference over long distances, enabling entanglement distribution for quantum networking using the deployed fiber infrastructure. Here, we demonstrate photon–photon interference by observing the Hong–Ou–Mandel dip between two distantly-located sources: a weak coherent-state source obtained by attenuating the output of a laser and a heralded single-photon source. We achieve a maximum dip visibility of $0.58\pm 0.04$ when the two sources are connected via 4.3 km of deployed fiber. Dip visibilities $>0.5$ are nonclassical and a first step towards achieving teleportation over the deployed fiber infrastructure. In our experiment, the classical optical communication is achieved with $-21$ dBm of optical signal launch power, which is used to synchronize the clocks in the two independent, distantly-located photon sources. The impact of spontaneous Raman scattering from the classical optical signals is mitigated by appropriate choice of the quantum- and classical-channel wavelengths. All equipment used in our experiment (the photon sources and the synchronization setup) is commercially available. Finally, our experiment represents a scalable approach to enabling practical quantum networking with commercial equipment and coexistence with classical communications in optical fiber.