Polarization-Multiplexed Phase Modulation of Single Photons in a Sagnac Interferometer

Polarization-multiplexed phase modulation was demonstrated in a Sagnac interferometer for polarization-auto-compensating quantum key distribution. The Sagnac interferometer was composed of a polarization beam splitter to split the signal pulses into clockwise and counter-clockwise beams of different...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE photonics technology letters 2017-10, Vol.29 (19), p.1647-1650
Main Authors: Liu, Geping, Liang, Yan, Chen, Yuanjin, Zeng, Heping
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerial patrol
Beams (radiation)
Communication
Couplers
Encoding
Logic gates
Modulators
Multiplexing
Optical fiber polarization
Phase modulation
Photonics
Photons
Polarization
Quality of service
quantum communication
Quantum cryptography
quantum key distribution
Sagnac interferometers
Undersea cables
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Summary:Polarization-multiplexed phase modulation was demonstrated in a Sagnac interferometer for polarization-auto-compensating quantum key distribution. The Sagnac interferometer was composed of a polarization beam splitter to split the signal pulses into clockwise and counter-clockwise beams of different polarizations, a Faraday rotator to rotate the polarizations of the split clockwise and counter-clockwise beams, and two phase-modulators asymmetrically set in the Sagnac ring. With this structure, the delays of the electronic triggering signals for the two phase-modulators could be set separately, reducing the difficulty in the setup and achieving more precise phase modulation on different polarized beams. Such polarization-multiplexed phase modulation was appropriately gated in sequential time gates to ensure the long-term stability of automatic polarization compensation in the long-distance quantum key distribution system. Polarization-multiplexed phase modulation was implemented in a protocol quantum key distribution system of 25-km communicating fiber length, generating 20-kHz sifted key rate with a qubit error rate lower than 5%.
ISSN:1041-1135
1941-0174
DOI:10.1109/LPT.2017.2726115