High brightness, tunable biphoton source at 976 nm for quantum spectroscopy

A compact all solid state continuous-wave biphoton source, tunable around 488 nm, for quantum spectroscopic applications based on a frequency doubled diode laser system is presented. Copolarized photon pairs in the fundamental transversal mode could be generated at 976 nm by spontaneous parametric down conversion inside a type-0 quasi phase matched periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide crystal with an efficiency of 8-10(-6). A high flux rate greater than 10(7) photon pairs per second has been achieved at pump powers in the muW range resulting in more than 7-10(9) photon pairs/s-mW. Further a detailed investigation of the spectral behavior and the flux rate as a function of the detuning from the degenerated case is presented.