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Guided-wave optics for long distance quantum communication

Olivier Alibart, Anthony Martin, Daniel B. Ostrowsky, Sébastien Tanzilli

Published Mar 22, 2010• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides (PPLN/W) are nowadays considered to be one of the most useful toolboxes for quantum communication experiments. Thanks to the high optical confinement over longer lengths than in bulk configurations (a few cm in our case), such structures provide highly efficient non-linear interactions, both in down- and up-conversion regimes. Within the framework of long-distance quantum communication at telecom wavelength, PPLN/Ws have therefore been proved to be a key ingredient for building ultra-bright sources of energy-time, time-bin, as well as polarization entangled pairs of photons, up-conversion based detectors for telecom photon detection and photonic quantum interfaces for coherent wavelength conversion, as well as quantum relays in the entanglement swapping configuration. During the presentation, we will discuss some recent experimental advances regarding two quantum relay scenarios employed to extend the maximum achievable distance of quantum communication. Based on picosecond regime operation, the first relies on the entanglement swapping configuration, and the other on single qubit teleportation using a telecom oriented chip dedicated to one-way quantum communication. In the first realization, we demonstrate that the utilization of PPLN/Ws and standard components available from the telecommunications industry, associated with the picosecond operation regime enables reaching near-perfect two-photon interference (or coalescence) while maintaining high effective photon pair rates. Using pairs of photons emitted around 1550 nm and appropriate filtering stages, we obtain the highest coalescence net visibility, i.e., of 99%, ever reported. As coalescence is seen a major step towards entanglement swapping, we believe that our picosecond guided-wave scheme provides an efficient trade-off between CW and femtosecond regimes, and emphasize why it should lead to realistic quantum relay and repeater schemes, namely by offering an reduced-constraint solution to the synchronization issue when two completely independent lasers are employed. We shall focus on our experimental demonstration and detail a comparative study of performance with similar reported experiments. As a second realization, we will give further directions towards the integration of several functions on a single optical chip, such as a photon pair generator and electro-optically controllable couplers. The idea is to realize a telecom-like quantum relay chip on lithium niobate through which teleportation of single qubits can be done so as to provide the necessary relay function in a compact, stable, efficient, and user-friendly fashion. We will discuss preliminary results obtained with this device for fully fiber-based one-way quantum communication systems. We will conclude by emphasizing the large potential of what we call "guided-wave quantum communication" developed in our laboratory.

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Periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides (PPLN/W) are nowadays considered to be one of the most useful toolboxes for quantum communication experiments. Thanks to the high optical confinement over longer lengths than in bulk configurations (a few cm in our case), such structures provide highly efficient non-linear interactions, both in down- and up-conversion regimes. Within the framework of long-distance quantum communication at telecom wavelength, PPLN/Ws have therefore been proved to be a key ingredient for building ultra-bright sources of energy-time, time-bin, as well as polarization entangled pairs of photons, up-conversion based detectors for telecom photon detection and photonic quantum interfaces for coherent wavelength conversion, as well as quantum relays in the entanglement swapping configuration. During the presentation, we will discuss some recent experimental advances regarding two quantum relay scenarios employed to extend the maximum achievable distance of quantum communication. Based on picosecond regime operation, the first relies on the entanglement swapping configuration, and the other on single qubit teleportation using a telecom oriented chip dedicated to one-way quantum communication. In the first realization, we demonstrate that the utilization of PPLN/Ws and standard components available from the telecommunications industry, associated with the picosecond operation regime enables reaching near-perfect two-photon interference (or coalescence) while maintaining high effective photon pair rates. Using pairs of photons emitted around 1550 nm and appropriate filtering stages, we obtain the highest coalescence net visibility, i.e., of 99%, ever reported. As coalescence is seen a major step towards entanglement swapping, we believe that our picosecond guided-wave scheme provides an efficient trade-off between CW and femtosecond regimes, and emphasize why it should lead to realistic quantum relay and repeater schemes, namely by offering an reduced-constraint solution to the synchronization issue when two completely independent lasers are employed. We shall focus on our experimental demonstration and detail a comparative study of performance with similar reported experiments. As a second realization, we will give further directions towards the integration of several functions on a single optical chip, such as a photon pair generator and electro-optically controllable couplers. The idea is to realize a telecom-like quantum relay chip on lithium niobate through which teleportation of single qubits can be done so as to provide the necessary relay function in a compact, stable, efficient, and user-friendly fashion. We will discuss preliminary results obtained with this device for fully fiber-based one-way quantum communication systems. We will conclude by emphasizing the large potential of what we call "guided-wave quantum communication" developed in our laboratory.
Periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides (PPLN/W) are considered to be one of the most useful toolboxes for quantum communication experiments. Thanks to the high optical confinement over longer lengths than in bulk configurations (a few cm in our case), such structures provide highly efficient non-linear interactions, both in down- and up-conversion regimes. Within the framework of long-distance quantum communication at telecom wavelengths, PPLN/Ws have therefore been proved to be a key ingredient for building ultra-bright sources of energy-time, time-bin, as well as polarization entangled pairs of photons, up-conversion based detectors for telecom photon detection, photonic quantum interfaces for coherent wavelength conversion, and also for quantum relays in the entanglement swapping configuration.
Periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides (PPLN/W) are considered to be one of the most useful toolboxes for enabling quantum communication experiments. Thanks to the high optical confinement over longer lengths than in bulk configurations (a few cm in our case), such structures provide highly efficient non-linear interactions, i.e., in parametric downconversion, or sum and difference frequency generation regimes. Within the framework of long-distance quantum communication at telecom wavelengths, PPLN/Ws have therefore been proved to be a key ingredient for building ultrabright sources of time-bin, as well as polarization entangled photons, and for photonic quantum interfaces providing coherent wavelength conversions from telecom to visible wavelength range, and conversely. During the presentation, we will discuss some recent experimental advances regarding polarization entanglement sources and quantum interfaces.
We report on a two-photon interference experiment in a quantum relay configuration using two picosecond regime periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide based sources emitting paired photons at 1550 nm. The results show that the picosecond regime associated with a guided-wave scheme should have important repercussions for quantum relay implementations in real conditions, essential for improving both the working distance and the efficiency of quantum cryptography and networking systems. In contrast to already reported regimes, namely, femtosecond and CW, it allows achieving a 9999%99 net visibility two-photon interference while maintaining a high effective photon pair rate using only standard telecom components and detectors.
We investigate an integrated optical circuit on lithium niobate designed to implement a teleportation-based quantum relay scheme for one-way quantum communication at a telecom wavelength. Such an advanced quantum circuit merges for the first time both optical–optical and electro-optical nonlinear functions necessary for implementing the desired on-chip single-qubit teleportation. On the one hand, spontaneous parametric down-conversion is used to produce entangled photon pairs. On the other, we take advantage of two photon routers, consisting of electro-optically controllable couplers, to separate the paired photons and to carry out a Bell state measurement, respectively. After having validated all the individual functions in the classical regime, we performed a Hong–Ou–Mandel experiment to mimic a one-way quantum communication link. Such a quantum effect, seen as a prerequisite towards achieving teleportation, has been obtained at one of the routers when the chip was coupled to an external single-photon source. The two-photon interference pattern shows a net visibility of 80%, which validates the proof of principle of a 'quantum relay circuit' for qubits carried by telecom photons. In the case of optimized losses, such a chip could increase the maximal achievable distance of one-way quantum key distribution links by a factor of 1.8. Our approach and results emphasize the potential of integrated optics on lithium niobate as a key technology for future reconfigurable quantum information manipulation.
Recent advances in guided-wave optics bring quantum key distribution (QKD) to a new level where less complex, yet more robust, schemes have been proposed. Through continuous research in this field, newer QKD systems achieve higher bit rate, distance, and reliability. Entanglement-based QKD receives enormous attention from the scientific community, in order to increase the communication distance and to go to device-independent systems. In this framework, photons are generally the preferred qubit carrier, taking advantage of low-loss fibre optical networks, and high-performance standard telecom components. Future QKD networks will demand sources exhibiting high brightness, reliability, and photons in the standard telecom ITU channels for compatibility and easy integration with current technology. One of the most exploited approaches towards genera- ting photonic entanglement is based on the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in non-linear crystals. Usually employed entanglement observables are energy-time and polarization. The latter one is, without doubt, the easiest to analyze thanks to interferometer-free setups. Polarization entanglement is conveniently generated via the so-called type-II SPDC interaction, possibly in a waveguide non-linear structure for increasing the efficiency. Nevertheless, with a type-II source, there are some precautions that must be taken for achieving high entanglement qualities. In particular, the generated paired photons need to be spectrally and temporally indistinguishable. Typically, this requires spectral filtering, and temporal walk-off compensation stages. So far, these issues have been addressed by using bulk optics arrangements. We demonstrate a fully fibred approach based on a type-II periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide (PPLN/W) generating paired photons at 1540 nm (telecom C-band wavelength). We highlight the use of a standard polarization maintaining fibre (PMF) as an essentially loss-free, guided-wave solution to the temporal walk-off problem. By using standard telecom DWDMs, we perform, at the same time, the tasks of spectral filtering and deterministic photon pair separation in two ITU channels. By the violation of the Bell's inequalities with more than 100 standard deviations, we demonstrate excellent entanglement qualities and high coincidence rates. Our fully fibred approach offers very low losses, high reliability, and would be ready for QKD field tests.
We report the realization of a fiber-coupled polarization entangled photon-pair source at 1310 nm based on a birefringent titanium in-diffused waveguide integrated into periodically poled lithium niobate. By making use of a dedicated and high-performance setup, we characterized the quantum properties of the pairs by measuring two-photon interference in both Hong–Ou–Mandel and standard Bell inequality configurations. For the two sets of measurements we obtained interference net visibilities reaching nearly 100%, which represent important and competitive results compared to those for the similar waveguide-based configurations already reported. These results prove the relevance of our approach as an enabling technology for long-distance quantum communication.