Four-stage cascaded variable optical attenuator with large attenuation range for quantum key distribution

A four-stage cascaded variable optical attenuator (VOA) with a large attenuation range is presented. The VOA is based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and fabricated in a silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) platform. The thermo-optic effect is used to achieve intensity modulation. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chinese physics B 2023-05, Vol.32 (5), p.54207-518
Main Authors: Liu, Qing-Hai, Pan, Pan, You, Jin, Zhang, Jia-Shun, Wang, Ya, Wang, Yu-Ting, Wang, Liang-Liang, An, Jun-Ming, Cui, Da-Jian, Zhou, Lang, Chen, Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
large attenuation range
silica
thermo-optic effect
variable optical attenuator (VOA)
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Summary:A four-stage cascaded variable optical attenuator (VOA) with a large attenuation range is presented. The VOA is based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and fabricated in a silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) platform. The thermo-optic effect is used to achieve intensity modulation. The measured maximum attenuation of the four-stage cascaded VOA is 88.38 dB. The chip is also tested in a quantum key distribution (QKD) system to generate signal and decoy states. The mean photon number after attenuation of the four-stage cascaded VOA is less than 0.1, which can meet the requirement of QKD.
ISSN:1674-1056
DOI:10.1088/1674-1056/ac8af6