Silicon-based polarization-encoding quantum key distribution(QKD)has been extensively studied due to its advantageous characteris-tics of its low cost and robustness.However,given the difficulty of fabricating polariz...Silicon-based polarization-encoding quantum key distribution(QKD)has been extensively studied due to its advantageous characteris-tics of its low cost and robustness.However,given the difficulty of fabricating polarized independent components on the chip,previ-ous studies have only adopted off-chip devices to demodulate the quantum states or perform polarization compensation.In the cur-rent work,a fully chip-based decoder for polarization-encoding QKD was proposed.The chip realized a polarization state analyzer and compensated for the BB84 protocol without the requirement of additional hardware,which was based on a polarization-to-path conversion method utilizing a polarization splitter-rotator.The chip was fabricated adopting a standard silicon photonics foundry,which was of a compact design and suitable for mass production.In the experimental stability test,an average quantum bit error rate of 0.59%was achieved through continuous operation for 10 h with-out any polarization feedback.Furthermore,the chip enabled the automatic compensation of the fiber polarization drift when utiliz-ing the developed feedback algorithm,which was emulated by a ran-dom fiber polarization scrambler.Moreover,a finite-key secret rate of 240 bps over a fiber spool of 100 km was achieved in the case of the QKD demonstration.This study marks an important step to-ward the integrated,practical,and large-scale deployment of QKD systems.展开更多
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Founda-tion of China(Nos.62171144,62031024,and 62171485)the Guangxi Sci-ence Foundation(No.2021GXNSFAA220011)the Open Fund of IPOC(BUPT)(No.IPOC2021A02).
文摘Silicon-based polarization-encoding quantum key distribution(QKD)has been extensively studied due to its advantageous characteris-tics of its low cost and robustness.However,given the difficulty of fabricating polarized independent components on the chip,previ-ous studies have only adopted off-chip devices to demodulate the quantum states or perform polarization compensation.In the cur-rent work,a fully chip-based decoder for polarization-encoding QKD was proposed.The chip realized a polarization state analyzer and compensated for the BB84 protocol without the requirement of additional hardware,which was based on a polarization-to-path conversion method utilizing a polarization splitter-rotator.The chip was fabricated adopting a standard silicon photonics foundry,which was of a compact design and suitable for mass production.In the experimental stability test,an average quantum bit error rate of 0.59%was achieved through continuous operation for 10 h with-out any polarization feedback.Furthermore,the chip enabled the automatic compensation of the fiber polarization drift when utiliz-ing the developed feedback algorithm,which was emulated by a ran-dom fiber polarization scrambler.Moreover,a finite-key secret rate of 240 bps over a fiber spool of 100 km was achieved in the case of the QKD demonstration.This study marks an important step to-ward the integrated,practical,and large-scale deployment of QKD systems.
