We present a quantum communication experiment conducted over a point-topoint free-space link of 1.6 km in urban conditions. We study atmospheric influences on the capability of the link to act as a continuous-variable (CV) quantum channel. Continuous polarization states (that contain the signal encoding as well as a local oscillator (LO) in the same spatial mode) are prepared and sent over the link in a polarization multiplexed setting. Both signal and LO undergo the same atmospheric fluctuations. These are intrinsically auto-compensated which removes detrimental influences on the interferometric visibility. At the receiver, we measure the Q-function and interpret the data using the framework of effective entanglement (EE). We compare different state amplitudes and alphabets (two-state and four-state) and determine their optimal working points with respect to the distributed EE. Based on the high entanglement transmission rates achieved, our system indicates the high potential of atmospheric links in the field of CV quantum key distribution.
Trojan-horse attacks threaten the security of practical quantum
cryptography
Nitin Jain,
Elena Anisimova,
Imran Khan,
Vadim Makarov,
Christoph Marquardt,
Gerd Leuchs
A quantum key distribution (QKD) system may be probed by an eavesdropper Eve by sending in bright light from the quantum channel and analyzing the back-reflections. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a setup for mounting such a Trojan-horse attack. We show it in operation against the quantum cryptosystem Clavis2 from ID Quantique, as a proof-of-principle. With just a few back-reflected photons, Eve discerns Bob's (secret) basis choice, and thus the raw key bit in the Scarani-Acin-Ribordy-Gisin 2004 protocol, with higher than 90% probability. This would clearly breach the security of the cryptosystem. Unfortunately, Eve's bright pulses have a side effect of causing a high level of afterpulsing in Bob's single-photon detectors, resulting in a large quantum bit error rate that effectively protects this system from our attack. However, in a Clavis2-like system equipped with detectors with less-noisy but realistic characteristics, an attack strategy with positive leakage of the key would exist. We confirm this by a numerical simulation. Both the eavesdropping setup and strategy can be generalized to attack most of the current QKD systems, especially if they lack proper safeguards. We also propose countermeasures to prevent such attacks.
Atomic mercury vapor inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber
Ulrich Vogl,
Christian Peuntinger,
Nicolas Y. Joly,
Philip St. J. Russell,
Christoph Marquardt,
Gerd Leuchs
We demonstrate high atomic mercury vapor pressure in a kagome-style hollow-core photonic crystal fiber at room temperature. After a few days of exposure to mercury vapor the fiber is homogeneously filled and the optical depth achieved remains constant. With incoherent optical pumping from the ground state we achieve an optical depth of 114 at the 6(3)P(2) - 6(3)D(3) transition, corresponding to an atomic mercury number density of 6 x 10(10) cm(-3). The use of mercury vapor in quasi one-dimensional confinement may be advantageous compared to chemically more active alkali vapor, while offering strong optical nonlinearities in the ultraviolet region of the optical spectrum. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America
The performance of cascaded in-line phase-preserving amplitude regeneration using nonlinear amplifying loop mirrors has been studied in numerical simulations. As an example of a spectrally efficient modulation format with two amplitude states and multiple phase states, the regeneration performance of a star-16QAM format, basically an 8PSK format with two amplitude levels, was evaluated. An increased robustness against amplified spontaneous emission and nonlinear phase noise was observed resulting in a significantly increased transmission distance. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America
Identifying modes of large whispering-gallery mode resonators from the
spectrum and emission pattern
Gerhard Schunk,
Josef U. Fuerst,
Michael Foertsch,
Dmitry V. Strekalov,
Ulrich Vogl,
Florian Sedlmeir,
Harald G. L. Schwefel,
Gerd Leuchs,
Christoph Marquardt
Identifying the mode numbers in whispering-gallery mode resonators (WGMRs) is important for tailoring them to experimental needs. Here we report on a novel experimental mode analysis technique based on the combination of frequency analysis and far-field imaging for high mode numbers of large WGMRs. The radial mode numbers q and the angular mode numbers p = l-m are identified and labeled via far-field imaging. The polar mode numbers l are determined unambiguously by fitting the frequency differences between individual whispering gallery modes (WGMs). This allows for the accurate determination of the geometry and the refractive index at different temperatures of the WGMR. For future applications in classical and quantum optics, this mode analysis enables one to control the narrow-band phase-matching conditions in nonlinear processes such as second-harmonic generation or parametric down-conversion. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America
All-Optical Simultaneous Multilevel Amplitude and Phase Regeneration
Tobias Roethlingshoefer,
Georgy Onishchukov,
Bernhard Schmauss,
Gerd Leuchs
Simultaneous amplitude and phase noise reduction of multiple signal states using a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror with integrated directional phase-sensitive amplifier are presented for the star-eight quadrature amplitude modulation transmission format as an example. The performance of this combined regenerator scheme is compared with that of a cascade of separate phase and amplitude regenerators. It could be shown that an improvement in the error vector magnitude of 4 dB for the high-power states with simultaneous improvement of 5 dB for the low-power states is possible in both cases. Transmission improvement by regeneration is considered for two noise types: 1) amplified spontaneous emission and 2) nonlinear phase noise. Both schemes can either improve the bit error rate by an order of magnitude or enable an increase of the fiber launch power by 3 dB.
Classical entanglement in polarization metrology
Falk Toeppel,
Andrea Aiello,
Christoph Marquardt,
Elisabeth Giacobino,
Gerd Leuchs
Quantum approaches relying on entangled photons have been recently proposed to increase the efficiency of optical measurements. We demonstrate here that, surprisingly, the use of classical light with entangled degrees of freedom can also bring outstanding advantages over conventional measurements in polarization metrology. Specifically, we show that radially polarized beams of light allow to perform real-time single-shot Mueller matrix polarimetry. Our results also indicate that quantum optical procedures requiring entanglement without nonlocality can be actually achieved in the classical optics regime.
Distribution of Squeezed States through an Atmospheric Channel
Christian Peuntinger,
Bettina Heim,
Christian R. Mueller,
Christian Gabriel,
Christoph Marquardt,
Gerd Leuchs
Continuous variable quantum states of light are used in quantum information protocols and quantum metrology and known to degrade with loss and added noise. We were able to show the distribution of bright polarization squeezed quantum states of light through an urban free-space channel of 1.6 km length. To measure the squeezed states in this extreme environment, we utilize polarization encoding and a postselection protocol that is taking into account classical side information stemming from the distribution of transmission values. The successful distribution of continuous variable squeezed states is accentuated by a quantum state tomography, allowing for determining the purity of the state.
Observation of the Geometric Spin Hall Effect of Light
Jan Korger,
Andrea Aiello,
Vanessa Chille,
Peter Banzer,
Christoffer Wittmann,
Norbert Lindlein,
Christoph Marquardt,
Gerd Leuchs
The spin Hall effect of light (SHEL) is the photonic analogue of the spin Hall effect occurring for charge carriers in solid-state systems. This intriguing phenomenon manifests itself when a light beam refracts at an air-glass interface (conventional SHEL) or when it is projected onto an oblique plane, the latter effect being known as the geometric SHEL. It amounts to a polarization-dependent displacement perpendicular to the plane of incidence. In this work, we experimentally investigate the geometric SHEL for a light beam transmitted across an oblique polarizer. We find that the spatial intensity distribution of the transmitted beam depends on the incident state of polarization and its centroid undergoes a positional displacement exceeding one wavelength. This novel phenomenon is virtually independent from the material properties of the polarizer and, thus, reveals universal features of spin-orbit coupling.
Phase regeneration of a star-8QAM signal in a phase-sensitive amplifier
with conjugated pumps
B. Stiller,
G. Onishchukov,
B. Schmauss,
G. Leuchs
We demonstrate numerically phase regeneration of a star8QAM signal with two amplitude and four phase states in a phase-sensitive amplifier. In a dual-stage setup, two phase-conjugated idlers are generated in a first stage consisting of two fiber-optic parametric phase-insensitive amplifiers operated in highly nonlinear gain regime. These are used as pumps in the second, phase-sensitive amplification stage which enables efficient phase regeneration via a degenerate four-wave-mixing process. The latter can be operated in two different operation modes: without format conversion or with phase-shifted amplitude levels. In both regimes, we observe high phase-regeneration efficiency for all amplitude levels: the initial phase noise with 0.2 rad standard deviation is reduced by a factor of 5. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America
The possibility of all-optical phase-preserving amplitude regeneration for star-8QAM is demonstrated using a modified nonlinear optical loop mirror. Experiments show a reduction in amplitude noise on both amplitude levels simultaneously, considering two different types of signal distortions: deterministic low-frequency amplitude modulation and broadband amplitude noise. Furthermore, using this amplitude regeneration, the robustness against nonlinear phase noise from fiber nonlinearity in a transmission line is increased. The scheme suppresses the conversion of amplitude noise to nonlinear phase noise. This is shown for simultaneous amplitude regeneration of the two amplitude states as well as for amplitude regeneration of the high-power states only. If the transmission is limited by nonlinear phase noise, single-level operation at the more critical higher-power state will benefit because of the wider plateau region. Numerical simulations confirm the experimental results. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America.
Contact
Research Group Christoph Marquardt
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light Staudtstr. 2 91058 Erlangen, Germany
