2017/08/01 by Darius Bunandar, Anthony Lentine, Catherine Lee +16 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevx.8.021009
published as Phys. Rev. X 8, 021009 (2018)
arxiv created 2017/08/01 · arxiv updated 2018/04/11
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) provide a compact and stable platform for quantum photonics. Here we demonstrate a silicon photonics quantum key distribution (QKD) transmitter in the first high-speed polarization-based QKD field tests. The systems reach composable secret key rates of 950 kbps in a local test (on a 103.6-m fiber with a total emulated loss of 9.2 dB) and 106 kbps in an intercity metropolitan test (on a 43-km fiber with 16.4 dB loss). Our results represent the highest secret key generation rate for polarization-based QKD experiments at a standard telecom wavelength and demonstrate PICs as a promising, scalable resource for future formation of metropolitan quantum-secure communications networks.