First quantum light source demonstrated on thin-film lithium tantalate platform for scalable photonic circuits
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[Submitted on 1 Jun 2026]
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Summary
Researchers demonstrate the first quantum light source using thin-film lithium tantalate (TFLT), a promising integrated photonic platform. The fabricated microring achieves a high optical quality factor and generates correlated photon pairs across the telecom band (1510-1570 nm) with a generation rate of 24 MHz/mW². The source produces strongly antibunched heralded single photons and confirms energy-time entanglement with 92.55% two-photon interference visibility, well above the Bell-inequality violation threshold. This work bridges classical TFLT photonics with integrated quantum photonics, enabling scalable photonic quantum circuits and monolithic co-integration of classical and quantum functionalities.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledHere, to the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the first quantum light source with TFLT via spontaneous four-wave mixing, bridging the gap between the rapidly advancing classical TFLT ecosystem and integrated quantum photonics.
The source delivers strongly antibunched heralded single photons with $g^{(2)}_{H}(0)=0.071\pm0.004$ at a heralding rate of 170 kHz, while the unheralded statistics yield $g^{(2)}(0)=1.93 \pm 0.05$, indicating near-single-temporal-mode emission.
Energy-time entanglement is further confirmed by a raw two-photon interference visibility of $92.55\pm0.94\%$, well above the Bell-inequality violation threshold.
These results establish TFLT as a manufacturing-compatible platform for scalable photonic quantum circuits, paving the way for the monolithic co-integration of classical and quantum photonic functionalities.
Thin-film lithium tantalate (TFLT) has emerged as a promising integrated photonic platform owing to its low photorefractive noise, high optical damage threshold, and reduced birefringence, attracting increasing interest for scalable photonic technologies.
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