Ultra-bright source of polarization-entangled photons in a linear double-pass configuration

A number of key experiments in free-space have shown that polarization-entangled photons are not only of paramount importance to fundamental quantum optics, but can also find real-world applications in space, such as quantum enhanced metrological schemes, quantum communication and quantum cryptography. A crucial requirement for envisaged satellite-link experiments is the development of efficient space-qualified sources of entangled photons.