Develop a space-deployable, high brightness 1550 nm EPPS with 1 GHz Pair Generation Rate and up to 97% fidelity
Qa will develop a 1550 nm space-suitable EPPS able to generate up to 35 MHz/mW photon pairs with more than 97% fidelity. The source will utilize a bulk type-0 Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) process. The design will consider the harsh conditions of space, such as vacuum and temperature range, and will aim to minimize the number of components and degrees of freedom for alignment to ensure stable and maintenance-free operation. SWaP requirements of the EPPS will be reduced to a volume of 25x15x10 cm3, a weight of <1.8 kg and power consumption of <15 W. The EPPS will undergo thermal cycling test process in order to prove that it will withstand the operation in relevant environment. The goal is to achieve superior performance compared to any hitherto realized space source design and to achieve a TRL5.