Fiber-based Sagnac Interferometer for Active Polarization Entangled Photon-Pair Source

Fiber-based entangled photon sources are a key resource in emerging quantum technologies due to compactness, long-term stability and alignment-free operation. Fast control of the quantum state properties is also necessary in practical scenarios, where a universal source can be employed with different temporal and spectral configurations. Here, we report on a flexible source design that produces high-quality entanglement from continuous-wave up to GHz-pulsed operation modes. Our approach uses off-the-shelf optical components in a Sagnac configuration to generate polarization-entangled photon pairs at telecom wavelength. This design further allows phase modulation above MHz speeds with high fidelity. Together with its 60 nm spectral bandwidth, the proposed system is entirely suitable for wavelength-multiplexed and reconfigurable quantum networks, where state modulation or active bandwidth allocation is required.