Recording of a Single-Photon Signal from Low-Flying Satellites for Satellite Quantum Key Distribution

A fast and efficient algorithm for time synchronization in satellite quantum key distribution

“…Four single photon detectors with a timing jitter of 350 ps FWHM are used for detection of photons in four possible states of polarization. A more detailed description of the OGS can be found in previous publications [21][22][23].…”

Semi-Empirical Satellite-to-Ground Quantum Key Distribution Model for Realistic Receivers

“…The 600 mm ground station is a fixed telescope equipped with a quantum states decoder, as detailed in Ref. [ 27 ]. The 300 mm ground station is a portable receiving telescope equipped with a quantum communications optical system [ 38 ], which has a better optical efficiency than a 600 mm telescope.…”

“…CPL—collimator; POL—polarizer; PBS—polarizing beam splitter cube; HWP—half wave plate; BS—50:50 beam splitter cube; IF1—interference filter (central wavelength 850 nm; half-width 10 nm); HWP-m—motorized half-wave plate; M1—mirror; L1—lens; RT—receiving telescope with an aperture of 300 mm; GT—guiding telescope; SCM—synchronisation module; CAM—camera; IF2–—interference filter (central wavelength 532 nm; half-width 10 nm); 5 ch SPDs—5-channel single photon detector module; TDC—time-to-digital converter; PC—personal computer; PA—polarization analyzer (decoder); APS—module for analysis and processing of optical signals.

Figure A2 Fixed ground station with a 600 mm aperture for satellite quantum key distribution ( right ) and its scheme ( left ) [ 27 ]. CPL—collimator; POL—polarizer; PBS—polarizing beam splitter cube; HWP—half wave plate; BS—50:50 beam splitter cube; IF1—interference filter (central wavelength 850 nm; half-width 10 nm); HWP-m—motorized half-wave plate; BE—beam expander; DM is a dichroic mirror; L1—lens; FSM—fast steering mirror; RCT—Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with an aperture of 600 mm; GT—guiding telescope; SCM—synchronisation module; CAM—camera; IF2—interference filter (central wavelength 532 nm; half-width 10 nm); 5 ch SPDs—5-channel single photon detector module; TDC—time-to-digital converter; PC—personal computer; PA—polarization analyzer (decoder); APS—module for analysis and processing of optical signals.

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“… Fixed ground station with a 600 mm aperture for satellite quantum key distribution ( right ) and its scheme ( left ) [ 27 ]. CPL—collimator; POL—polarizer; PBS—polarizing beam splitter cube; HWP—half wave plate; BS—50:50 beam splitter cube; IF1—interference filter (central wavelength 850 nm; half-width 10 nm); HWP-m—motorized half-wave plate; BE—beam expander; DM is a dichroic mirror; L1—lens; FSM—fast steering mirror; RCT—Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with an aperture of 600 mm; GT—guiding telescope; SCM—synchronisation module; CAM—camera; IF2—interference filter (central wavelength 532 nm; half-width 10 nm); 5 ch SPDs—5-channel single photon detector module; TDC—time-to-digital converter; PC—personal computer; PA—polarization analyzer (decoder); APS—module for analysis and processing of optical signals.…”

“…This paper is organized as follows: in Section 2 , we describe the communication channel geometry for a series of satellite passages over Zvenigorod observatory and computed the time-dependent distance between the satellite and ground stations; in Section 3 , we calculated overall link losses based on the measured characteristics of ground stations [ 27 ] and the photon source parameters of a satellite [ 13 ]; Section 4 examined the secure key generation and error rates of QKD systems using the standard BB84 decoy-state protocol [ 28 , 29 ]; finally, in Section 5 , we discuss the deployment of our model to future space-to-ground quantum communication experiments.…”