2016/07/06 by C Autebert, Claire Autebert, Julien Trapateau +13 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Multiplexer #Photon #Photon entanglement #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum channel #Quantum entanglement #Quantum information science #Quantum key distribution #Quantum network #Quantum sensor #Quantum teleportation #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2058-9565/1/1/01lt02
published as Quantum Sci. Technol. 1 01LT02 (2016) · 13 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables
arxiv created 2016/07/06 · openalex created_date 2016/07/22 · openalex publication_date 2016/12/01 · arxiv updated 2017/01/06 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
In view of real-world applications of quantum information technologies, the combination of miniature quantum resources with existing fibre networks is a crucial issue. Among such resources, on-chip entangled photon sources play a central role for applications spanning quantum communications, computing and metrology. Here, we use a semiconductor source of entangled photons operating at room temperature in conjunction with standard telecom components to demonstrate multi-user quantum key distribution, a core protocol for securing communications in quantum networks. The source consists of an AlGaAs chip-emitting polarisation entangled photon pairs over a large bandwidth in the main telecom band around 1550 nm without the use of any off-chip compensation or interferometric scheme; the photon pairs are directly launched into a dense wavelength division multiplexer (DWDM) and secret keys are distributed between several pairs of users communicating through different channels. We achieve a visibility measured after the DWDM of 87% and show long-distance key distribution using a 50-km standard telecom fibre link between two network users. These results illustrate a promising route to practical, resource-efficient implementations adapted to quantum network infrastructures.