Fibre-based entangled photon sources for practical quantum application

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We propose to develop a fibre-optic device that generates entangled photon pairs for practical applications of quantum technology. Entangled photons, broadly speaking, are pairs of photons (or light "particles") prepared in a special state that makes them exhibit correlated properties. For example, for polarization-entangled photon pairs, the measurement of one photon's polarization state reveals that of its partner, even when they are physically far away from each other -- a phenomenon described by Einstein as "spooky action at a distance". Entanglement can be exploited by quantum computing and quantum communication. Entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD), for example, utilizes the correlation of the photons sent to two remote parties and allows them to share a common set of random cryptographic keys. It guarantees the security of the keys since any eavesdropping attempt would result in a detectable deterioration of correlation. Entanglement can also be used in metrology, such as quantum optical coherent tomography, quantum lithography, and entangled-photon microscopy. These applications utilize the non-classical correlations of the photon pairs to enhance temporal and spectral resolutions as well as signal-to-noise ratios in imaging and metrology.