Quantum networking continues to encode information in polarization states due to ease and precision. The variable environmental polarization transformations induced by deployed fiber need correction for deployed quantum networking. Here, we present a method for automatic polarization compensation (APC) and demonstrate its performance on a metropolitan quantum network. Designing an APC involves many design decisions as indicated by the diversity of previous solutions in the literature. Our design leverages heterodyne detection of wavelength-multiplexed dim classical references for continuous high-bandwidth polarization measurements used by newly developed multi-axis (non-)linear control algorithm(s) for complete polarization channel stabilization with no downtime. This enables continuous relatively high-bandwidth correction without significant added noise from classical reference signals. We demonstrate the performance of our APC using a variety of classical and quantum characterizations. Finally, we use C-band and L-band APC versions to demonstrate continuous high-fidelity entanglement distribution on a metropolitan quantum network with an average relative fidelity of 0.94 ± 0.03 for over 30 hrs.
Quantum networking continues to encode information in polarization states due to ease and precision. The variable environmental polarization transformations induced by deployed fiber need correction for deployed quantum networking. Here, we present a method for automatic polarization compensation (APC) and demonstrate its performance on a metropolitan quantum network. Designing an APC involves many design decisions as indicated by the diversity of previous solutions in the literature. Our design leverages heterodyne detection of wavelength-multiplexed dim classical references for continuous high-bandwidth polarization measurements used by newly developed multi-axis (non-)linear control algorithm(s) for complete polarization channel stabilization with no downtime. This enables continuous relatively high-bandwidth correction without significant added noise from classical reference signals. We demonstrate the performance of our APC using a variety of classical and quantum characterizations. Finally, we use C-band and L-band APC versions to demonstrate continuous high-fidelity entanglement distribution on a metropolitan quantum network with an average relative fidelity of 0.94 ± 0.03 for over 30 hrs.
Fibre-based quantum networks distributing polarization entanglement require a stable and uninterrupted transmission basis for reliable operation. Bright classical reference light enables rapid polarization feedback but can introduce noise into quantum channels. Entangled-photon-based feedback avoids this noise, but typically interrupts the target entanglement channel during calibration and becomes prohibitively slow over long distances due to the product loss of fibre links. Here, we overcome both limitations by combining wavelength-bracketed probing with switch-enabled path decomposition. Spectrally adjacent entangled-photon sidebands track the polarization response of the central distribution channel without interrupting its transmission, while optical switches and local reference fibres independently determine the signal and idler network transformations. Transferring the resulting compensation settings to the central channel eliminates calibration-induced downtime and changes the acquisition-time scaling from the product of the link losses to the sum of losses. We demonstrate the method on a 133 km fibre testbed and achieve continuous closed-loop stabilization for more than 24 hours without classical reference light. The decomposition of multi-link quantum feedback into single-link measurements provides a scalable stabilization strategy for wavelength-multiplexed quantum networks.
We present polarization entanglement distribution over an operator-owned, metropolitan-scale fiber network, employing standard wavelength-division multiplexing components to achieve coexistence of O-band photons and C-band classical light. First, we demonstrate dynamic path switching by alternating between 15-km and 30-km deployed fiber loops, enabled by automated polarization compensation achieving sub-second recovery and time-averaged CHSH S -values exceeding 2.65 over 21 hours. We then assess the impact of co-propagating 100-Gbit/s C-band classical signals by varying launch powers up to 6 dBm. Finally, by combining path switching and classical co-propagation, we achieve stable entanglement distribution over 30 km of deployed fiber, validating the feasibility of hybrid quantum–classical transmission and paving the way for entanglement-based quantum networking on existing metropolitan infrastructure.
Quantum wrapper networking (QWN) is an emerging quantum networking protocol that wraps qubits in classical header bits to enable switching/routing, monitoring, and control without detecting the quantum signal. In this work, we encode header bits with two nonorthogonal polarization references to track and actively compensate for the changing birefringence of a 48 km deployed fiber link. Our method is analytical and deterministic, using motorized waveplates and a variable phase retarder to accurately and stably compensate the channel. We verify successful compensation by measuring the polarization stability of single photon qubits and the visibility of entangled photon pairs under both slow birefringence drift due to environmental fluctuations and large sudden changes designed to emulate those that occur during packet switching and rerouting over different fiber paths. For large, sudden changes, our compensator recovers the Stokes vector of single photons to within 10 degrees of the target state on the Poincaré sphere and restores the two-photon interference visibilities to their original levels on the deployed fiber link. Additionally, experiments monitoring long-term compensation over 44 hours show that active polarization compensation maintains the two-photon interference visibility, whereas disabling the compensator leads to visibility degradation over time, particularly in the diagonal-antidiagonal basis, where the average raw visibility decreases by 7.7%. These results add a polarization-control layer to QWN and illustrate that information-carrying headers can enable deterministic physical-layer compensation in the quantum channel over long-distance deployed fiber links.
The active stabilization of polarization channels is a task of growing importance as quantum networks move to deployed demonstrations over existing fiber infrastructure. However, the uniquely strict requirements for high-fidelity qubit transmission complicate the extent to which classical solutions may apply to future quantum networks, particularly in terms of recognizing noise sources present in low-flux, nonunitary channels. Here we introduce a novel in situ benchmarking approach that augments a classical polarization tracking system, limited to unitary correction, with simultaneously transmitted quantum light for ancilla-assisted process tomography of the full quantum map. Implemented in a local-area quantum network, our method uses the reconstructed map both to validate the classical compensation and to expose noise sources it fails to capture. A sliding measurement window that continuously updates the estimated quantum process further increases sensitivity to rapid channel fluctuations. Our results should unlock new opportunities for in situ channel characterization in quantum-classical coexistence networks.
The development of prototype metropolitan-scale quantum networks is underway and entails transmitting quantum information via single photons through deployed optical fibers spanning several tens of kilometers. The major challenges in building metropolitan-scale quantum networks are compensation for polarization fluctuation, high-precision clock synchronization, and compensation for cumulative transmission time fluctuations. One approach addressing these challenges is to copropagate classical probe signals in the same fiber as the quantum signal. Thus, both signals experience the same conditions, and the changes of the fiber can therefore be monitored and compensated. Here, we demonstrate the distribution of polarization-entangled quantum signals copropagating with the White Rabbit precision time protocol classical signals in the same single-core fiber strand at metropolitan-scale distances. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of this quantum-classical coexistence by achieving high-fidelity entanglement distribution between nodes separated by 100 km of optical fiber. This advancement is a significant step towards the practical implementation of robust and efficient metropolitan-scale quantum networks.
The physical effects such as random birefringence of fiber optic channels due to environmental influences make the optical signals transmitted in them have sensitive polarization variations, which seriously affects the performance of polarization biased code quantum key distribution systems. In this paper, a low-noise fiber channel wavelength division multiplexing real-time polarization compensation system is presented, where single photon counting is used as a feedback signal. The system can acquire the fiber channel polarization change information by detecting the photon counting of the conjugate reference light. In the system, the compensation algorithm is designed to control the electric polarization controller to calibrate the polarization state of the quantum signal light under the corresponding polarization base in real time, and the stable fiber channel polarization compensation is successfully achieved. In order to verify the effectiveness of the compensation system, a quantum key distribution test based on BB84 protocol with a transmission distance of 25.2 km is conducted, and stable test results of up to 8 hours are obtained in the laboratory environment and the simulated metropolitan area network buried fiber environment, with the average quantum bit error rate being 0.52% and 1.25%, respectively. The experimental results show that this system can guarantee the stable operation of polarization-encoded quantum key distribution in the buried fiber environment in urban areas.