Noncollinear correlated photon pair source in the 1550 nm telecommunication band.

We present a source of noncollinear correlated photon pairs in the standard 1550 nm telecommunication band. They are generated by a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process and emitted in a cone because of type-I noncollinear phase matching. Within the band, the source gives a completely flexible choice of the frequencies of the photon pairs, and correlation properties related to spatial momentum as well as energy and time can easily be utilized.We characterize the source by measuring the spatial intensity distribution of the down-converted light and by performing coincidence counting.