Generation of photon-number-entangled soliton pairs through interactions

Abstract

Two simple schemes for generating macroscopic (many-photon) continuous-variable entangled states by means of continuous interactions (rather than collisions) between solitons in optical fibers are proposed. First, quantum fluctuations around two time-separated single-component temporal solitons are considered. Almost perfect correlation between the photon-number fluctuations can be achieved after passing a certain distance, with a suitable initial separation between the solitons. The photon-number correlation can also be achieved in a pair of vectorial solitons with two polarization components. In the latter case, the photon-number-entangled pulses can be easily separated by a polarization beam splitter. These results offer possibilities to produce entangled sources for quantum communication and computation.