arXiv:1612.07236

Integrated Silicon Photonics for High-Speed Quantum Key Distribution

Philip Sibson, Jake Kennard, Stasja Stanisic, Chris Erven, Jeremy L. O’Brien, Mark G. Thompson

Published Dec 21, 2016• 1 citation

Abstract

Integrated photonics offers great potential for quantum communication devices in terms of complexity, robustness and scalability. Silicon photonics in particular is a leading platform for quantum photonic technologies, with further benefits of miniaturisation, cost-effective device manufacture and compatibility with CMOS microelectronics. However, effective techniques for high-speed modulation of quantum states in standard silicon photonic platforms have been limited. Here we overcome this limitation and demonstrate high-speed low-error quantum key distribution modulation with silicon photonic devices combining slow thermo-optic DC biases and fast (10~GHz bandwidth) carrier-depletion modulation. The ability to scale up these integrated circuits and incorporate microelectronics opens the way to new and advanced integrated quantum communication technologies and larger adoption of quantum-secured communications.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1612.07236

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