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arXiv:1509.08556

Two-photon assisted clock comparison to picosecond precision

Shiwei Zhang, Jiazheng Song, Yin-Ping Yao, Ren-Gang Wan, Tongyi Zhang

Published Sep 29, 2015• 0 citations
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Abstract

We have experimentally demonstrated a clock comparison scheme utilizing time-correlated photon pairs generated from the spontaneous parametric down conversion process of a laser pumped beta-barium borate crystal. The coincidence of two-photon events are analyzed by the cross correlation of the two time stamp sequences. Combining the coarse and fine part of the time differences at different resolutions, a 64 ps precision for clock synchronization has been realized. We also investigate the effects of hardware devices used in the system on the precision of clock comparison. The results indicate that the detector's time jitter and the background noise will degrade the system performance. With this method, comparison and synchronization of two remote clocks could be implemented with a precision at the level of a few tens of picoseconds.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1509.08556

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Photon pairs generated in spontaneous parametric downconversion exhibit a strong correlation in time, which has been used to synchronize spatially separated clocks in the past in quantum key distribution implementations to a high accuracy. A symmetric version of this scheme can be used to allow for an absolute clock synchronization, and the entanglement properties of photons generated in spontaneous down conversion allows to strengthen the authenticity of the received signals through entanglement witnesses. Aspects of this time synchronization technique with respect to use in optical fibers and remaining vulnerabilities are discussed. [1] C. Ho, A. Lamas-Linares, and C. Kurtsiefer: Clock synchronization by remote detection of correlated photon pairs, New Journal of Physics 11, 045011 (2009). [2] J. Lee, L. Shen, A. Cerè, J. Troupe, A. Lamas-Linares, C. Kurtsiefer: Symmetrical clock synchronization with time-correlated photon pairs, Appl. Phys. Lett. 114, 101102 (2019).
In this study, we present an algorithm to detect the time and frequency differences of independent clocks based on observation of time-correlated photon pairs. This enables remote coincidence identification in entanglement-based quantum key distribution schemes without dedicated coincidence hardware, pulsed sources with a timing structure or very stable reference clocks. We discuss the method for typical operating conditions and show that the requirement for reference clock accuracy can be relaxed by about five orders of magnitude in comparison with previous schemes.
There are two general methods in radiometric calibration of detectors, one is based on radiation sources and the other based on detectors. Because the two methods need to establish a primary standard of high precision and a transfer chain, precision of the standard will be reduced by extension of the chain. A new calibration method of detectors can be realized by using correlated photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal, without needing transfer chain. Using 351.1-nm output of a tunable laser to pump 'beta'-barium borate (BBO) crystal, an absolute calibration experimental system of single photon detectors based on correlated photons is performed. The quantum efficiency of photomultiplier (PMT) at 702.2 nm is measured by the setup. Advantages of this method over traditional methods are also pointed out by comparison.