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Symposium on Photonics and Optoelectronics

Study on the Coupling Efficiency between Two Bending Nano-Fiber

Guorui Zhou, Guoying Feng, Hao Yang, Hongyuan Ding

Published Jun 1, 2010• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on an integrated photonic transmitter of up to 100 MHz repetition rate, which emits pulses centered at 850 nm with arbitrary amplitude and polarization. The source is suitable for free space quantum key distribution applications. The whole transmitter, with the optical and electronic components integrated, has reduced size and power consumption. In addition, the optoelectronic components forming the transmitter can be space-qualified, making it suitable for satellite and future space missions.

DOI
10.1109/sopo.2010.5504020

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We report on an integrated photonic transmitter of up to 100 MHz repetition rate, which emits pulses centered at 850 nm with arbitrary amplitude and polarization. The source is suitable for free space quantum key distribution applications. The whole transmitter, with the optical and electronic components integrated, has reduced size and power consumption. In addition, the optoelectronic components forming the transmitter can be space-qualified, making it suitable for satellite and future space missions.
We report on an integrated photonic transmitter of up to 100 MHz repetition rate, which emits pulses centered at 850 nm with arbitrary amplitude and polarization. The source is suitable for free space quantum key distribution applications. The whole transmitter, with the optical and electronic components integrated, has reduced size and power consumption. In addition, the optoelectronic components forming the transmitter can be space-qualified, making it suitable for satellite and future space missions.
The project aims at developing new photonic transmitters for quantum\ncryptography applications which could be used to increase the security of\ncommunication networks. The transmitter will be designed to generate security keys\nat a speed up to 100 Mb/s, two orders of magnitude larger than the state-of-the-art\nsources. The whole transmitter, with the optical and electronic parts integrated, will\nhave a reduced size and power consumption. In addition, space-qualified optoelectronic\ndevices will be used, so that the final prototype will be ready for satellites and future\nEuropean Space Agency (ESA) missions.
An important issue in today’s information society is the security of data transmission against potential intruders, which always put at risk the confidentiality. Current methods to increase security require that the two parties wishing to transmit information, exchange or share one or more security keys. Once the key has been identified, the information can be transferred in a provable secure way using a one-time pad, i. e. the key length is as long as the plaintext. Therefore, the security of the information transmission is based exclusively on the security of the key exchange. Quantum cryptography, or more precisely quantum key distribution (QKD), guarantees absolutely secure key distribution based on the principles of quantum physics, according to which it is not possible to measure or reproduce a state (e.g. polarization or phase of a photon) without being detected. The key is generated out from the measurement of the information encoded into specific quantum states of a photon, named qubits. For example, a qubit can be created using properties such as the polarization or the phase of a photon. Achieved goals of this thesis are the development of a new class of high speed integrated photonic sources for applications in quantum key distribution systems, capable of producing unprecedented qubit rates (100 Mbps - 1 Gbps) and transmitting those over larger distances than those achieved so far (> 200 km). More specifically the work has been focused on developing faint pulse sources which can be used in very demanding environmental conditions, such as those in Space. For the development of these sources, apart from the optical design, essential is the opto-mechanical engineering as well as the integration with the electronics. One of the objectives was to achieve very high level of integration and power efficiency, e.g. volumes and power consumption between 10 and 100 times smaller than those typical of a laboratory experiment. Moreover, work in related parts of a whole QKD transmission system has been carried out. In particular, a new scheme for a compact, fast and simple random number generator has been demonstrated successfully achieving a random number generation rate of 1:1 Gbps. Also, during the course of this thesis, the development and engineering of a free-space QKD optical link has been initiated. This thesis makes use of novel ideas to alternatively demonstrate proof-of- concept experiments, which could then further develop into commercial products. To this end, close collaborations with world-wide leading companies in the field have been established. The Optoelectronics Group at ICFO has been involved in current European Space Agency (ESA) projects to develop a small footprint and low power consumption quantum transceiver and a high-flux entangled photon source.
Abstract The future envisaged global-scale quantum-communication network will comprise various nodes interconnected via optical fibers or free-space channels, depending on the link distance. The free-space segment of such a network should guarantee certain key requirements, such as daytime operation and the compatibility with the complementary telecom-based fiber infrastructure. In addition, space-to-ground links will require the capability of designing light and compact quantum devices to be placed in orbit. For these reasons, investigating available solutions matching all the above requirements is still necessary. Here we present a full prototype for daylight quantum key distribution at 1550 nm exploiting an integrated silicon-photonics chip as state encoder. We tested our prototype in the urban area of Padua (Italy) over a 145 m-long free-space link, obtaining a quantum bit error rate around 0.5% and an averaged secret key rate of 30 kbps during a whole sunny day (from 11:00 to 20:00). The developed chip represents a cost-effective solution for portable free-space transmitters and a promising resource to design quantum optical payloads for future satellite missions.
In 2017, the Micius mission [1] showed that satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) can surpass the range limit of fiber-based QKD [2]. Due to the high launch cost of satellites the cost of these systems would be reduced significantly if the size, weight and power of the satellites could be reduced. This requires the use of new integration technologies, like the miniaturized modules based on photonic integrated circuits (PIC) tested in the QUBE mission [3], [4]. Using the knowledge gained there, the QUBE-II mission aims to launch an 8U CubeSat(10×20×40cm3)(10\times 20\times 40\text{cm}^{3})(10×20×40cm3)with the goal of performing QKD between the cubesat and an optical ground station [5].