Patent ID: 7639953

Claim:
A non-degenerate, polarization-entangled photon source comprising: a first half-wave plate that receives a pump beam from a pump beam source and outputs both a first pump beam in a first polarization state and a second pump beam in a second polarization state; a first beam displacer that directs the first pump beam into a first transmission channel and directs the second pump beam into a second transmission channel, based on the first and second polarization states of the first and second pump beams; a down-conversion device that receives the first pump beam and outputs a first signal photon and a first idler photon in the first transmission channel and receives the second pump beam and outputs a second signal photon and a second idler photon in the second transmission channel; a second beam displacer that directs both the first signal and idler photons transmitted in the first transmission channel and the second signal and idler photons transmitted in the second transmission channel into a single output transmission channel; and a dichroic mirror that receives the signal and idler photons transmitted in the output transmission channel and directs the first and second signal photons to a first fiber optic coupler and directs the first and second idler photons to a second fiber optic coupler.