Heralded single photons based on spectral multiplexing and feed-forward control

Abstract: We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel approach to a heralded single photon source based on spectral multiplexing (SMUX) and feed-forward-based spectral manipulation of photons created by means of spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically-poled LiNbO3 crystal. As a proof-of-principle, we show that our 3-mode SMUX increases the heralded single-photon rate compared to that of the individual modes without compromising the quality of the emitted single-photons. We project that by adding further modes, our approach can lead to a deterministic SPS.