Spectrally multiplexed Hong–Ou–Mandel interference with weak coherent states

Abstract

We explore the suitability of a virtually imaged phased array as a spectral-to-spatial mode-mapper (SSMM) for applications in quantum communication such as a quantum repeater. To this end, we demonstrate spectrally resolved Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference with weak coherent states (WCSs). Spectral sidebands are generated on a common optical carrier, and WCSs are prepared in each spectral mode and sent to a beam splitter followed by two SSMMs and two single-photon detectors, allowing us to measure spectrally resolved HOM interference. We show that the so-called HOM dip can be observed in the coincidence detection pattern of matching spectral modes with visibilities as high as 45% (maximum 50% for WCSs). For unmatched modes, the visibility drops significantly, as expected. Due to the similarity between HOM interference and a linear-optics Bell-state measurement (BSM), this simple optical arrangement figures as a candidate for the implementation of a spectrally resolved BSM. Finally, we simulate the secret key generation rate using current and state-of-the-art parameters in a measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution scenario and explore the trade-off between rate and complexity of a spectrally multiplexed quantum communication link.