2023/10/25 by Giulia Guarda, Guarda, Giulia, Domenico Ribezzo +7
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Photonic and Optical Devices #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.16702
openalex publication_date 2023/10/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are key in advancing quantum technologies for secure communications. They offer inherent stability, low losses and compactness compared to standard fiber-based and free-space systems. Our reasearch demonstrates PIC's effectivness in enhancing quantum communications, implementing a three-state BB84 protocol with decoy-state method. We employ an integrated receiver and superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) to achieve technological advancements. One of the most notable results is the extraction of a secret key over a record-breaking 45 dB channel attenuation. Our results demonstrate a remarkable 220% boost in key rate compared to our prototype fiber-based receiver over a 10 dB channel attenuation. This improvement in the secret key rate (SKR) signifies the potential of integrated photonics to advance the field of quantum communication.