Investigation of underwater quantum channels in a 30 meter flume tank using structured photons

Underwater quantum communication has recently been explored using polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM). Here, we show that spatially structured modes, e.g., a coherent superposition of beams carrying both polarization and OAM, can also be used for underwater quantum cryptography. We also...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New journal of physics 2020-09, Vol.22 (9), p.93074
Main Authors: Hufnagel, Felix, Sit, Alicia, Bouchard, Frédéric, Zhang, Yingwen, England, Duncan, Heshami, Khabat, Sussman, Benjamin J, Karimi, Ebrahim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular momentum
Communication
Investigations
Photons
Physics
Polarization
quantum communication
Quantum cryptography
Turbulence
Underwater communication
underwater communication link
Underwater structures
vector vortex modes
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Summary:Underwater quantum communication has recently been explored using polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM). Here, we show that spatially structured modes, e.g., a coherent superposition of beams carrying both polarization and OAM, can also be used for underwater quantum cryptography. We also use the polarization degree of freedom to investigate the impact of the channel length on key rates for quantum communication applications. The underwater channel proves to be a difficult environment for establishing quantum communication as underwater optical turbulence results in significant beam wandering and distortions. However, the errors associated to the turbulence do not result in error rates above the threshold for establishing a positive key in a quantum communication link with both the polarization and spatially structured photons. The impact of the underwater channel on the spatially structured modes is also investigated at different distances using polarization tomography.
ISSN:1367-2630
1367-2630
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/abb688