Spatial diversity is a technique widely used in wireless communications to enhance the signal quality at the receiver. We propose a multiple-input single-output system that utilizes this technique to enhance a free-space optics quantum communication link by reducing the amount of photon losses caused by atmospheric turbulence, thus increasing the capacity of the quantum channel. The system consists of two transmitters with uncorrelated optical paths, and a single receiver. A 515-nm quantum signal is transmitted through the transmission path with the highest gain, dynamically chosen by comparing the signal distortions of a 660-nm classical signal. Preliminary experiments with a single transmitter have been conducted in a laboratory environment with atmospheric turbulence generated via heat guns. We observed that the single-photon channel is highly correlated with the fluctuations of the 660-nm classical signal, so that an improvement in the former is expected when selecting the path with highest gain. The number of photon counts received was compared with the turbulence-free scenario, revealing that the mean number of counts decreased, and its standard deviation increased when turbulence is present, as expected.
Spatial diversity is a technique widely used in wireless communications to enhance the signal quality at the receiver. We propose a multiple-input single-output system that utilizes this technique to enhance a free-space optics quantum communication link by reducing the amount of photon losses caused by atmospheric turbulence, thus increasing the capacity of the quantum channel. The system consists of two transmitters with uncorrelated optical paths, and a single receiver. A 515-nm quantum signal is transmitted through the transmission path with the highest gain, dynamically chosen by comparing the signal distortions of a 660-nm classical signal. Preliminary experiments with a single transmitter have been conducted in a laboratory environment with atmospheric turbulence generated via heat guns. We observed that the single-photon channel is highly correlated with the fluctuations of the 660-nm classical signal, so that an improvement in the former is expected when selecting the path with highest gain. The number of photon counts received was compared with the turbulence-free scenario, revealing that the mean number of counts decreased, and its standard deviation increased when turbulence is present, as expected.
A multiple-input single-output configuration is used to study the effectiveness of spatial diversity in reducing single-photon losses caused by atmospheric turbulence in quantum communications over free-space. The system consists of two transmitters and a single receiver, where two parallel beams are transmitted, each comprising a 660-nm beacon and a 515-nm collinear single-photon signal. The beacon is intended to compare the turbulence conditions on each path to determine the most suitable transmitter for the single-photon signal. An outdoor experimental campaign with a propagation distance of 500 meters was conducted to obtain results under real turbulence conditions. First, the correlation between the 515-nm and 660-nm collinear signals was measured at 0.82, showing that the beacon signal accurately represents the state of turbulence affecting the single-photon signal most of the time. The spatial correlation was measured at separation distances between the transmitters of 12 and 20 centimeters, yielding correlation coefficients of 0.35 and 0.17, respectively. As expected, the spatial correlation decreases with increasing separation distance. Finally, a slight improvement in the detection of the single-photon signal was observed when using spatial diversity, but further improvements to the system and longer propagation distances are needed to obtain more promising results.
Free-space optical (FSO) links carry quantum states without fiber, but diffraction, pointing error, and atmospheric turbulence couple spatial modes and reduce end-to-end fidelity. Classical multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) uses spatial channels for multiplexing or diversity. For unknown quantum states, however, the no-cloning theorem prevents classical replication. We therefore formulate an FSO quantum multiple-input multiple-output (QuMIMO) link for an unknown polarization qubit as a single completely positive and trace-preserving (CPTP) map. It combines passive field transfer, bosonic pure loss lifted to Fock space, a receiver map to erasure-augmented polarization qubits, and effective per-port polarization noise. The plane-wave Rytov variance parameterizes turbulence, while an internal-state Gram matrix captures partial photon distinguishability and its effects on path coherence and multiphoton interference. Using Haar-averaged state fidelity, we compare direct transmission, fixed quantum error correction (QEC), approximate quantum cloning, coherent path superposition, and channel-adapted encoder and recovery maps, while distinguishing channel state information (CSI) from endpoint availability. With Full CSI on the two-rail channel, asymmetric cloning and coherent path superposition exceed the fixed single-input single-output (SISO) baseline in average fidelity. Adding rails and their admitted photon-number sectors enlarges the attained general-CPTP gain over the fixed SISO baseline, with the widest margin at moderate turbulence. Fixed stabilizer encoders perform poorly as turbulence makes rail survival unequal and produces errors unlike erasures at known code positions. Thus, QuMIMO realizes channel-adapted spatial diversity without requiring multiple copies of the logical qubit.
When light is propagated through a channel that is not a waveguide, such as a fiber, it is known as a free-space optical channel. When used in communication systems, free-space optical channels provide the advantages of high communication rates, lower power, and minimal infrastructure installation. When the free-space optical channel has a random medium in it, such as the atmosphere, the distortions will be applied to the phase. The phase distortions can lead to intensity fluctuations and additional beam spreading. To compensate for the distortions adaptive optics can be used, allowing for the stability of the system to be improved. Additionally, post processing techniques on transmitted data can also be used to improve the stability of the channel. By significantly decreasing the number of photons transmitted, a classical communication channel can be considered as a quantum channel. Encoding information into the quantum states of the transmitted photons, quantum communication can be performed. When transmitting on the order of 1 photon per pulse, classical post processing techniques cannot be used to improve the stability of the channel. To stabilize the free-space optical channel, adaptive optics can be used at the transmitter or receiver. As no measurement of the quantum state is performed by the adaptive optics system, no information in the photon is lost. In this work, quantum key distribution will be implemented over the quantum channel. The focus of this work is on the design and study of how the channel degradations can be overcome, as well as the establishment of a free-space optical channel with adaptive optics in a quantum networking testbed. Quantum key distribution systems were simulated over a 30 km maritime channel as well as over a underwater channel. For the 30 km channel, the use of multiple parallel spatial modes results in the highest increases of the secure key rate at the cost of transmitting a lower average number of photons. When adaptive optics is applied, the secure key rates have a small increase, however as the strength of the turbulence increases from weak to moderate, the relative improvement is higher. For the underwater channel, operation at lower depths is optimal as fewer background photons reach the receiver and the channel attenuation is lower. In the experimental setup, it was found that the single photon detectors that are being used are the limiting the channel loss to be at most 6 dB. The free space optical link established between the Electrical and Computer Engineering building and College of Optical Sciences uses a corner cube retro-reflector to yield a distance of 1.45 km. The channel has been characterized at various times of day to determine the strength of the atmospheric turbulence, which ranges from a scintillation index of 0.07 to 2.21. A classical communication experiment was performed, resulting in error-free transmission while the input power to the EDFA before the photodetector was consistently above -25 dBm.
Quantum entanglement is an essential element for building the backbone of quantum information systems. Our particular interest lies in long-range distribution of entangled photons to facilitate secure data transfer in free space. To achieve this, we rely on photon pairs generated in such a way that their polarization characteristics represent the corresponding qubit states and have a high degree of correlation in measurements. The main focus of this paper is integrity of the quantum states in free-space channels. When transmitted in atmosphere, classical signals suffer from wave front distortions caused by the spatial and temporal fields of the refractive index. However, this mechanism does not have the same bearing on qubit values and their correlation. We study the effects of turbulence on quantum states by utilizing a laboratory testbed that includes an atmospheric chamber developed by the AFRL. It uses a system of controlled components capable of creating various turbulence conditions. When polarized signals are passed through the atmospheric chamber, we analyze the corresponding quantum states and evaluate the degree of entanglement using our mathematical models and existing metrics.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) systems for use in future free-space optical communication links restrict communication to a low bit rate. In this paper, increasing the QKD bit rate using a communication system that includes a multiple-input-multiple-output quantum key distribution (MQKD) is proposed. Such a system can enable a number of receivers to communicate simultaneously with a number of transmitter elements, which consequently increases the overall QKD bit rate. However, due to scattering and turbulence in the atmospheric channel, this method may introduce interference effects when a photon transmitted from one transmitter element reaches the wrong detector element in the receiver. These interference effects reduce the system bit rate and increase the quantum bit error rate. A novel mathematical model for analyzing the effect of crosstalk and interference on the MQKD system performance is derived. The results of the analysis indicate that atmospheric effects impair performance. In order to mitigate the atmospheric effect, using several wavelengths simultaneously is suggested. Criteria to define the number of wavelengths that are required to achieve a given performance are also provided.
Free-space quantum cryptography plays an integral role in realizing a global-scale quantum internet system. Compared to fiber-based communication networks, free-space networks experience significantly less decoherence and photon loss due to the absence of birefringent effects in the atmosphere. However, the atmospheric turbulence contributes to deviation in transmittance distribution, which introduces noise and channel loss. Several methods have been proposed to overcome the low signal-to-noise ratio. Active research is currently focused on establishing secure and practical quantum communication in a high-loss channel, and enhancing the secure key rate by implementing bit rejection strategies when the channel transmittance drops below a certain threshold. By simulating the atmospheric turbulence using an acousto-optical-modulator (AOM) and implementing the prefixed-threshold real-time selection (P-RTS) method, our group performed finite-size decoy-state Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol for 19 dB channel loss. With better optical calibration and efficient superconducting nano-wire single photon detector (SNSPD), we have extended our previous work to 40 dB channel loss characterizing the transmittance distribution of our system under upper moderate turbulence conditions.