Implementation of quantum key distribution and quantum clock synchronization via time bin encoding

Williams, James; Suchara, Martin; Zhong, Tian; Qiao, Hong; Kettimuthu, Rajkumar; Fukumori, Rikuto

doi:10.1117/12.2581862

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…To ensure a probability of correct detection higher than 99.9%, optimal criteria for limiting the sampling scope in each time window were established. A technique presented in [32] allowed exchanging time-bin encoded photons between Alice and Bob without the need for synchronized time references. This was accomplished using a framing protocol that permitted Alice to encode a time reference along with a key determined by her before transmission.…”

Section: Volume XXX 2021mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability and Security Analysis of an Entanglement-Based QKD Protocol in a Dynamic Ground-to-UAV FSO Communications System

Alshaer

Moawad

Ismail³

2021

IEEE Access

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Quantum cryptography is a promising technology that achieves unconditional security, which is essential to a wide range of sensitive applications. In contrast to optical fiber, the free-space optical (FSO) link is efficiently used as a quantum channel without affecting the polarization of transmitted photons. However, the FSO link has several impairments, such as atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors, which affect the performance of the quantum channel. This paper proposes a quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme that uses a time-bin entanglement protocol over the FSO channel that suffers from various channel impairments. Due to the interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their usefulness for many social, internet-of-things (IoT), civil, and military applications, the proposed QKD-FSO system is integrated with the ground-to-UAV platform. Furthermore, variances in the position and orientation of the UAV are investigated using a tracking system. These variances are considered when evaluating the overall performance of the proposed integrated system. For this purpose, closed-form expressions are obtained for the system average symbol error rate (ASER) and outage probability. The Monte Carlo simulation is used to verify the validity of the proposed expressions. The system security is investigated assuming photon number splitting (PNS) attack. Moreover, the transmit power, time-bin number, and modulation order are optimized to maximize the raw and secret key rates. The results show that for 500 m link, ASER < 10 −1 and link outage probability < 10 −1 with tolerating boresight displacement up to 30 cm, the system should be configured at receiver's field-of-view > 22 mrad and signal-to-noise ratio > 7.5 dB which leads SNR th < 2.5 dB and raw key rate maximized by adjusting the number of time bins according to the received SNR.INDEX TERMS FSO communication, channel fluctuations, quantum cryptography, entanglement photon, E91 protocol, raw key rate, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), tracking system, Kalman filter, performance evaluation, photon number splitting (PNS).

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Section: Volume XXX 2021mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability and Security Analysis of an Entanglement-Based QKD Protocol in a Dynamic Ground-to-UAV FSO Communications System

Alshaer

Moawad

Ismail³

2021

IEEE Access

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“…In other words, the signal-to-noise ratio reduces with strong link losses and limits this approach to short-distance links with small losses. A possible solution is to use dedicated synchronization patterns to improve the signal-to-noise ratio [31,33,34], as shown in [32,35]. The authors show a remarkably low standard deviation (1σ) of the timing offset variation of approximately 500 ps (estimated from maximum deviation 3σ = 1.5 ns, integration time 1 s).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clock synchronization with pulsed single photon sources

Spiess,

Steinlechner

2023

Quantum Sci. Technol.

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Photonic quantum technology requires precise, time-resolved identification of photodetection events. In distributed quantum networks with spatially separated and drifting time references, achieving high precision is particularly challenging. Here we build on recent advances of using single-photons for time transfer and employ and quantify a fast postprocessing scheme designed to pulsed single-photon sources. We achieve an average root mean square synchronization jitter of 3.0 ps. The stability is comparable to systems with Rb vapor cell clocks with 19 ps at 1 second integration time, in terms of Allan time deviation. Remarkably, our stability is even better than classical high-precision time transfer, like the White Rabbit protocol, although we use significantly less signal (single-photon level). Our algorithms allow local processing of the data and do not affect the secure key rate. It compensates substantial clock imperfections from crystal oscillators and we foresee great potential for low signal scenarios. The findings are naturally suited to quantum communication networks and provide simultaneous time transfer without adding hardware or modifying the single-photon sources.

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“…In this article, we build on the ground-breaking work of Ho [42] and Valencia [41] and establish the feasibility of picosecond-level synchronization with photon pairs for realistic link scenarios. Unlike state-of-the-art field experiments, which employ active electro-optic modulation [47][48][49], we accomplish this in post-processing without any requirement for auxiliary hardware. Our approach bases on predictive estimation of clock frequency difference and compensation of the dispersion of correlation peaks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clock synchronization with correlated photons

Spiess¹,

Töpfer²,

Sharma³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Event synchronisation is a ubiquitous task, with applications ranging from 5G technology to industrial automation and smart power grids. The emergence of quantum communication networks will further increase the demands for synchronisation in optical and electronic domains, thus incurring a significant resource overhead, e.g. through the use of ultra-stable clocks or additional synchronisation lasers. Here we show how temporal correlations of energy-time entangled photons may be harnessed for synchronisation in quantum networks. We achieve stable synchronisation jitter < 50 ps with as few as 36 correlated detection events per 100 ms and demonstrate feasibility in realistic high-loss link scenarios. In contrast to previous work, this is accomplished without any external timing reference and only simple crystal oscillators. Our approach replaces the optical and electronic transmission of timing signals with classical communication and computer-aided postprocessing. It can be easily integrated into a wide range of quantum communication networks and could pave the way to future applications in entanglement-based secure time transmission.

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Implementation of quantum key distribution and quantum clock synchronization via time bin encoding

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Reliability and Security Analysis of an Entanglement-Based QKD Protocol in a Dynamic Ground-to-UAV FSO Communications System

Reliability and Security Analysis of an Entanglement-Based QKD Protocol in a Dynamic Ground-to-UAV FSO Communications System

Clock synchronization with pulsed single photon sources

Clock synchronization with correlated photons

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