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Perspectives for quantum communication: sources, processing, and single-photon detection

Noé Curtz

Published Jan 1, 2011• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum physics has deeply changed the scientific perception of reality. The physical realization of quantum states is a vast resource for humankind: it can be used for a surprisingly large manifold of purposes; among those, the generation of truly random numbers, the possibility of distributing a shared private key for cryptography, or new ways to perform computation. Today, the most practical approach of creating and manipulating quantum states relies on playing with photons, i.e. light. Indeed most of quantum information processing experiments are accomplished via optical means. This situation is the consequence of the extraordinary development of photonic tools over the last decades, in terms of sources (lasers, quantum dots...), processing (optical fibers, filters, multiplexers, crystals, waveguides...), and detectors (photodiodes, superconducting nanowires, transition edge sensors...). "In this manuscript we present some (modest) contributions to the field, done during a PhD in the group of applied physics at University of Geneva (Switzerland)".

DOI
10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:15886

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Quantum physics has deeply changed the scientific perception of reality. The physical realization of quantum states is a vast resource for humankind: it can be used for a surprisingly large manifold of purposes; among those, the generation of truly random numbers, the possibility of distributing a shared private key for cryptography, or new ways to perform computation. Today, the most practical approach of creating and manipulating quantum states relies on playing with photons, i.e. light. Indeed most of quantum information processing experiments are accomplished via optical means. This situation is the consequence of the extraordinary development of photonic tools over the last decades, in terms of sources (lasers, quantum dots...), processing (optical fibers, filters, multiplexers, crystals, waveguides...), and detectors (photodiodes, superconducting nanowires, transition edge sensors...). "In this manuscript we present some (modest) contributions to the field, done during a PhD in the group of applied physics at University of Geneva (Switzerland)".
Over the last sixty years, classical information theory has revolutionized the understanding of the nature of information, and how it can be quantified and manipulated. Quantum information processing extends these lessons to quantum systems, where the properties of intrinsic uncertainty and entanglement fundamentally defy classical explanation. This growing field has many potential applications, including computing, cryptography, communication, and metrology. As inherently mobile quantum particles, photons are likely to play an important role in any mature large-scale quantum information processing system. However, the available methods for producing and detecting complex multi-photon states place practical limits on the feasibility of sophisticated optical quantum information processing experiments. In a typical quantum information protocol, a source first produces an interesting or useful quantum state (or set of states), perhaps involving superposition or entanglement. Then, some manipulations are performed on this state, perhaps involving quantum logic gates which further manipulate or entangle the intial state. Finally, the state must be detected, obtaining some desired measurement result, e.g., for secure communication or computationally efficient factoring. The work presented here concerns the first and last stages of this process as they relate to photons: sources and detectors. Our work on sources is based on the need for optimized non-classical states of light delivered at high rates, particularly of single photons in a pure quantum state. We seek to better understand the properties of spontaneous parameteric downconversion (SPDC) sources of photon pairs, and in doing so, produce such an optimized source. We report an SPDC source which produces pure heralded single photons with little or no spectral filtering, allowing a significant rate enhancement. Our work on detectors is based on the need to reliably measure single-photon states. We have focused on optimizing the detection efficiency of visible light photon counters (VLPCs), a single-photon detection technology that is also capable of resolving photon number states. We report a record-breaking quantum efficiency of 91 +/- 3% observed with our detection system. Both sources and detectors are independently interesting physical systems worthy of study, but together they promise to enable entire new classes and applications of information based on quantum mechanics.
For any communication, the conveyed information must be carried by some physical system. If this system is a quantum system rather than a classical one, its behavior will be governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Hence, the properties of quantum mechanics, such as superpositions and entanglement, are accessible, opening up new possibilities for transferring information. The exploration of these possibilities constitutes the field of quantum communication. The key ingredient in quantum communication is the qubit, a bit that can be in any superposition of 0 and 1, and that is carried by a quantum state. One possible physical realization of these quantum states is to use single photons. Hence, to explore the possibilities of optical quantum communication, photonic quantum states must be generated, transmitted, characterized, and detected with high precision. This thesis begins with the first of these steps: the implementation of single-photon sources generating photonic qubits. The sources are based on photon-pair generation in nonlinear crystals, and designed to be compatible with fiber optical communication systems. To ensure such a compatibility and to create a high-quality source, a theoretical analysis is made, optimizing the coupling of the photons into optical fibers. Based on the theoretical analysis, a heralded single-photon source and a two-crystal source of entangled photons-pairs are experimentally implemented. The source of entangled photons is further developed into a compact source with a narrow bandwidth compatible with standard telecommunication wavelength-division multiplexers, and even further developed to a more stable one-crystal source. The sources are to be used for quantum communication in general and quantum cryptography in particular. Specifically, a heralded single-photon source is implemented and then used for a full test of a decoy-state quantum cryptography protocol.
Light is composed of photons, but only recently has it become relatively common, albeit still challenging, to manipulate single or few photons. This special issue presents state-of-the-art theory and experiment concerning the production of few-photon states of light, processing the states, and performing highly sensitive low-noise detection at the single-photon level. In many cases, the connection between photon manipulation and quantum information science is apparent. Few-photon sources have applications for quantum cryptography and optical quantum computing. Photon processing can involve producing entangled states of light as resources for quantum information processing, performing optical gates for example by interferometry, and realizing quantum memory to store information and synchronize gate operations. Ultimately the photons are carriers of information, and this information is acquired by detectors, which have to be reliable, highly sensitive, fast and operate with low noise. Many of these photon generation, processing and detection issues are exemplified in the papers presented here. This special issue thus serves as a compendium of recent results in the area of few-photon optics, covering the development of new sources, the characterization and improvement of detection schemes, and the analysis and proposal of processing protocols. We trust that this issue will serve as a valuable resource for the community for years to come.
Quantum information processing offers new protocols and functionalities in the field of communications by providing an absolute security guaranteed by the quantum physics laws as well as in the field of quantum computing, with the perspective to drastically speed up massively parallel computations. The second quantum revolution is now about to take place with theoretical concepts being brought into concrete applications thanks to integrated technological solutions. Photons are an excellent physical implementation of quantum bits for these two applications. Photonic quantum information processing requires three key functionalities: a source of single photons, a reconfigurable circuits for their manipulation and a single photon detector. The objective of this PhD work is to design, fabricate and characterize superconducting single photon detectors integrated on silicon photonic circuits, with very high efficiency above 95%, a large spectral operating range at telecom wavelength and the ability to resolve the number of received photons. This PhD will take place at CEA, in collaboration between INAC and LETI institutes to benefit from their complementary expertise. This PhD work will be conducted in parallel with developments of single photon sources and will bring an essential building block for the integration of complex circuits able to generate, manipulate and detect tens of photonic qubits for secured communications and quantum computing.