Fundamental limit on the heralded single photons’ spectral brightness

Abstract Heralded single photons (HSPs) are the versatile flying qubits in quantum communication and networks due to their ability to remove the randomness of arrival time and enhance the transmission reliability. As the generation rate of HSPs increases or their linewidth narrows, both of which are desirable for quantum information processing, the fundamental limit of spectral brightness (SB), defined as the generation rate per unit linewidth, remains unclear. To examine the existence and value of such a limit, we systematically studied the SB together with the cross-correlation function, or equivalently, the signal-to-background ratio (SBR). We ultimately derive an upper bound on SB that applies universally to all types of HSP sources. A newly defined quantity governs this limit, the quality factor, which is the product of SBR and effective SB. The quality factor indicates how closely an HSP source approaches an ideal noise-free source. Furthermore, by employing an HSP source based on hot atomic vapor, we achieved an SB of ( 8.5 ± 0.3 ) × 10 5 pairs/s/MHz and a quality factor of 0.73 ± 0.02 under the single-photon criterion. Both values represent the highest reported performance to date among all HSP platforms. These results provide a unified benchmark for evaluating and optimizing HSP sources.