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17
Jun
2019

A strong UNIQORN presence at ICTON 2019

21st International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks
ICTON 2019
Place: Angers, France
Date: July 9 -13, 2019

The UNIQORN partners will present recent project results at ICTON 2019 during the following dedicated talks!

Flexible entanglement distribution based on WDM and active switching technology

Session: QC I Wednesday, July 10, 9:10-10:50

Authors
Hannes Hübel, Bernhard Schrenk, Sophie Zeiger, Fabian Laudenbach and Michael Hentschel  (AIT Austrian institute of Technology)

Abstract
In future, the distribution of single or entangled photons inside optical networks will be a prerequisite for a general roll-out and adoption of quantum communication technologies. In particular, on-demand routing and active wavelength allocation will be needed to meet the demand of complex network architectures. In the last years several attempts have been made, based either on passive optical WDM technology or active switching of channels. Here we present a novel approach whereby we combine spectral slicing of the emission spectrum of SPDC sources together with space-switches to generate a reconfigurable distribution node for entanglement.  The increased switching complexity offered by our hybrid solution allows us to realise quantum ROADMs with up to three degrees.

Modelling Weak-Coherent CV-QKD Systems Using a Classical Simulation Framework

Session: QC III Wednesday, July 10, 14:20-16:20

Authors
Sören Kreinberg(1), Igor Koltchanov(1), Piotr Novik(2), Saleem Alreesh(1), Fabian Laudenbach(3), Christoph Pacher(3), Hannes Hübel(3), André Richter(1)

Affiliations
(1) VPIphotonics GmbH, Carnotstr. 6, 10587 Berlin, Germany
(2) VPI Development Center, ul. Filimonova 15-50831, 220037 Minsk, Belarus
(3) Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Donau-City-Str. 1, 1220 Vienna, Austria

Abstract
Due to their compatibility to existing telecom technology, continuous variable (CV) weak coherent state protocols are promising candidates for a broad deployment of quantum key distribution (QKD) technology. We demonstrate how an existing simulation framework for modelling classical optical systems can be utilized for simulations of weak-coherent CV-QKD links. The quantum uncertainties for the measured characteristics of coherent signals are modelled in the electrical domain by shot noise, while a coherent signal in the optical domain is described by its quadrature components. We simulate various degradation effects such as attenuation, laser RIN, Raman noise (from classical channels in the same fibre), and device imperfections and compare the outcome with analytical theory. Having complemented the physical simulation layer by the post-processing layer (reconciliation and privacy amplification), we are able to estimate secure key rates from simulations, greatly boosting the development speed of practical CV-QKD schemes and implementations.

Coexistence of discrete-variable QKD with WDM classical signals in the C-band for fiber access environments

Session: QC V Thursday, July 11, 8:30-10:10

Authors
D. Zavitsanos (1), G. Giannoulis (1), A. Raptakis (1), C. Papananos (1), F. Setaki (2), E. Theodoropoulou (2), G. Lyberopoulos (2), Ch. Kouloumentas (1), (3), and H. Avramopoulos (1)

Affiliations
(1) National Technical University of Athens, Greece
(2) COSMOTE Kinites Tilepikoinonies A.E., Athens, Greece
(3) Optagon Photonics, Athens, Greece

Abstract
In this paper, a coexistence scheme between a Discrete-Variable Quantum Key Distribution (DV-QKD) and four bidirectional classical channels in a Passive Optical Network (PON) topology is theoretically investigated. The study aims to explore the imposed limitations considering the coexistence of weak quantum channels with realistic traffic flows of classical streams through shared fiber infrastructures. Based on a ‘plug and play’ phase coding DV-QKD implementation, we conducted numerical simulations of the QBER and the secure key rate for fiber distances up to 10km. The reported results suggest that in a fixed C-band grid, the spectral isolation between classical and quantum channels is essential at dense grids. By removing the leakage noise through stronger spectral isolation, the photons linked with the Raman scattering becomes the dominant noise source, since this mechanism covers an ultra-broadband window and gets stronger as the propagation distance increases.

Official ICTON 2019 website:http://www.icton2019.com/

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28
May
2019

2nd UNIQORN General Assembly

On May 21 – 22, 2019 we organised the 2nd general assembly of our project in Vienna, Austria!

The main topics discussed were the technical work plan, the communication and dissemination strategy and the project contributions to the Quatum Flaghsip! In addition to the plenary sessions, parallel technical sessions about the use cases  e-Health, e-Government and Smart City, and the different work packages were organised.

Actions, next steps and goals for the near future have been defined!

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13
May
2019

European Quantum Community Meeting 2019

Date: October 17 – 18, 2019

Place: Helsinki, Finland

Join the Finnish Presidency–Quantum Flagship event that will take place in October in Helsinki.  The two day event will be dedicated to the Quantum Technology community, the Quantum Flagship as well as setting the Strategic Research Agenda, which will be presented and discussed among the community attending the event.  The program is currently being finalised and will be published very soon.

Source: https://qt.eu/newsroom/save-the-date-exploring-and-making-quantum-technology/

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30
Apr
2019

Co-existence of 9.6 Tb/s Classical Channels and a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Channel over a 7-core Multicore Optical Fibre

Title

Co-existence of 9.6 Tb/s Classical Channels and a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Channel over a 7-core Multicore Optical Fibre

Authors

Emilio Hugues-Salas, Rui Wang, George T. Kanellos, Reza Nejabati, Dimitra Simeonidou

Abstract

This paper presents a record-high co-existence DP-16QAM coherent transmission of 9.6Tb/s for classical channels with one discrete-variable quantum key distribution channel over a 7-core Multicore fibre. We demonstrate that effective secret key generation is possible even with the combined crosstalk effect of the six adjacent cores over the quantum channel. Additional measurements show the impact on the secret key rate and QBER by adding coherent optical channels in different cores.

Venue

 2018 IEEE British and Irish Conference on Optics and Photonics (BICOP)

Place and Date

London, United Kingdom, Dec. 12-14 , 2018

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29
Apr
2019

UNIQORN – Making quantum photonics affordable

Title

UNIQORN – Making quantum photonics affordable

Abstract

Blending on-chip ultrathin-film elements, nonlinear crystals, polymer interposers, and single-photon detectors, the UNIQORN project aims to develop a quantum system-on-chip methodology that brings low-cost assembly to the field of quantum optics.

Venue

LaserFocusWorld journal

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10
Apr
2019

Noisy Detector? Good! Analysis of Trusted-Receiver Scenario in Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

Title

Noisy Detector? Good! Analysis of Trusted-Receiver Scenario in Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

Authors

Fabian Laudenbach and Christoph Pacher (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)

Abstract

In CV-QKD the trusted-receiver assumption allows for a significant improvement in terms of key rate and achievable transmission distance. Moreover, as we demonstrate, sometimes detection noise can even be beneficial for the key rate.

Venue 

QIM V 2019 (https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/topical_meetings/quantum_information_and_measurement_(qim)_v_quant/)

Place and Date

Rome, ITA, April 4 – 6, 2019

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05
Apr
2019

Quantum, which colour suits you best?

At OFC 2019 in San Diego we posed the question how a practical integration of quantum channels into passive optical access networks could look like. To do so, we should first pay attention to the FSAN roadmap. 5G is on the brink of being rolled out together with its optical fronthauling over cloud-radio limited reach of ~20 km, while access standards incorporate wavelength stacking towards 4 lanes of 10 Gb/s. The good news is: NG-PON2 with its WDM overlay is spectrally allocated at the C- and L-bands. This blanks out the O-band, and if we expect fiber deployment to dismiss legacy solutions, there is really much unoccupied space down there at 1310 nm.

Although quantum communication is not a resource-consuming technology with respect to the always precious optical spectrum, it is very picky when it comes to “contamination”. The high power difference of about 100 dB between classical and quantum channels can quickly become a showstopper when these channels are located too close to each other. Even the 100-nm far wings of stimulated Raman scattering are quickly imposing severe crosstalk to the quantum channel. Spectral displacement is therefore paramount, and the consolidation of down- and upstream channels of the next-generation PON standard in the C/L-band definitely helps.

The second big question concerns the loss budget. In optical telecommunications the signal-to-noise ratio worsens with an increasing loss introduced between transmitter and receiver. In the quantum world, however, we transmit single photons and loss is directly impacting the rate at which we are receiving them. Given the constant dark count rate of single-photon detectors, there is a hard limit at which no useful quantum signal can be received anymore. Unfortunately, PONs as the scene that we have set for our experimental deployment study, are known to be very lossy due to their broadcast-and-select methodology with concentrated 1:N branching loss. At ECOC’14 in sunny Cannes, Orange gave a hint on that loss figure by showing that their average optical budget in access networks is 22 dB. This is a good indicator for brown-field deployments and it is just compatible with GHz-rate quantum signals.

So, what is left is to put all together, and that’s what we show in our OFC paper. We exploit a conceptually simple laser-based quantum transmitter dedicated to the end-user premises. The complexity of the receiver, with its custom quantum detector, is centralised at the head-end where it can be cost-shared. With that, and by exploiting a dual-feeder scheme for the PON as well as the unidirectional nature of quantum channels, we obtain robustness to a high number of more than 50 downstream channels. However, we also notice that classical upstream channels are by far more detrimental for our fragile quantum signal. Emerging WDM standards in the O-band, such as LAN-WDM with smaller channel passbands than CWDM, promise a much better noise rejection feature – and after all, you can also include a custom narrowband filter if you already require an equally complex element such as a quantum receiver. For these reasons, we believe that 1310 nm is an attractive wavelength to dress our quantum channel.

See our technical paper for more information:

B. Schrenk, M. Hentschel, and H. Hübel, “O-Band Differential Phase-Shift Quantum Key Distribution in 52-Channel C/L-Band Loaded Passive Optical Network,” in Proc. OFC’19, San Diego, USA, Mar. 2019, Th1J.5.

Posted by admin in News
05
Apr
2019

O-Band Differential Phase-Shift Quantum Key Distribution in 52-Channel C/L-Band Loaded Passive Optical Network

 Title

O-Band Differential Phase-Shift Quantum Key Distribution in 52-Channel C/L-Band Loaded Passive Optical Network

Authors

Bernhard Schrenk, Michael Hentschel, and Hannes Hübel (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)

Abstract

A cost-effective QKD transmitter is evaluated in a 16km reach, 2:16-split PON and yields 5.10-7secure bits/pulse. Co-existence with 20 down-and 1 upstream channel is possible at low QBER degradation of 0.93% and 1.1%.

Venue 

OFC 2019 (https://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/)

Place and Date

San Diego, California, USA, March 4 – 8, 2019

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14
Mar
2019

First Demonstration of Quantum-Secured, Inter-Domain 5G Service Orchestration and On-Demand NFV Chaining over Flexi-WDM Optical Networks

Title

First Demonstration of Quantum-Secured, Inter-Domain 5G Service Orchestration and On-Demand NFV Chaining over Flexi-WDM Optical Networks”.

Authors

R. Nejabati, R. Wang, A. Bravalheri, A. Muqaddas, N. Uniyal, T. Diallo, R. S. Tessinari, R. S. Guimaraes, S. Moazzeni, E. Hugues-Salas, G. T. Kanellos and D. Simeonidou

Abstract

First demonstration of quantum-secured end-to-end VNS composition through dynamic chaining of VNFs from multiple-domains. We rely on a novel quantum-switched flexi-grid WDM network and q-ROADM for inter-connectivity and on-demand selection of transport functions for quality-of-service.

Venue

OFC 2019 (https://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/)

Place and Date

San Diego, California, USA, March 4 – 8, 2019

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12
Mar
2019

D2.1 Initial Specifications of UNIQORN Devices and Initial Definition of Application Scenarios

Contributing Partners

UNIVBRIS, AIT, UPB, DTU, UNIVIE, MLNX, HHI, ICCS/NTUA, UIBK, TUE, POLIMI, COSM

Executive Summary

The second quantum revolution is imminent and quantum communications is one of the main reasons since it has been identified as information-theoretical secure for data transmission. However, to achieve quantum communication networks, available compact and highperformance modules are needed together with deployed experimental testbeds for the evaluation of these modules with real application scenarios.

Under these premises, the Quantum Flagship UNIQORN project was designed aiming at early prototyping of components and system-on-chip implementations. In UNIQORN, complex systems will be integrated into highly miniaturized quantum-optic modules enabling quantum mechanical features such as entanglement and light squeezing. Moreover, these quantum technologies will be assessed in novel protocols such as oblivious transfer and one-time programs. To prototype these UNIQORN quantum technologies, field trials will be undertaken in city networks and the national dark fibre considering different real network scenarios.

This deliverable D2.1 includes the first steps towards these goals within the UNIQORN project. In D2.1, the main specifications of the UNIQORN quantum technologies are described based on the component and system functionalities of each technology. Initial set of parameters are defined, considering the technologies proposed with view on the integration of systems within potential quantum communication networks and applications. With regards to the applications, D2.1 list important scenarios where the quantum technologies developed in UNIQORN could be implemented.

The methodology used for this deliverable includes the discussion of the quantum devices contemplated within the UNIQORN framework. This will be the foundation for the systems that integrate the different technologies in order to achieve specific functionalities. In turn, the systems created in UNIQORN will be evaluated in field-trials. More importantly, very well-defined use cases will determine the usability of the quantum technologies proposed.

The first part of this deliverable D2.1 includes the description and initial specification of the quantum devices to be developed during the UNIQORN project. One of the quantum devices developed in UNIQORN is the differential phase shift (DPS) transmitter, which is specified in this D2.1. The DPS main building blocks are described considering its functionality and operation. Also, to convert wavelengths in the regime for photon-pair generation, a compactsize mode-locked laser is specified. To this end, different types of photon-pair sources are included in the D2.1, such as polarisation-entangled and time-bin sources. Add-on polymer modules are also specified in this document for different functionalities such as up conversion, SHG and electro-absorption modulator.

The implementation of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) is also included within UNIQORN for routing telecommunication channels together with quantum channels and initial specifications are included in this deliverable. In addition, the design of quantum random number generators (QRNGs) is included in D2.1 and will exploit a microelectronic chip of Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) arrays with 1×2 and 1×16 arrays of single-photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) and the implementation of a continuous-variable (CV) receiver is specified, considering the major challenge of manufacturing coherent detectors.

With regards to squeezed light sources, UNIQORN will follow two approaches in the design. One is based on a periodically poled lithium niobite (PPLN) waveguide and the other approach is based on a bulk PPKTP crystal. The initial specifications of such approaches are listed in this deliverable D2.1.

The second part of this deliverable D2.1 includes the system specifications. In this part, the design of a quantum white box is specified, with the main requirements listed. The main functionality of this quantum white box will focus on the flexible allocation of classical and quantum channels. Also, a DPS QKD system is briefly described in this document, as an integration of the previous work on DPS transmitters. Heralded single-photon sources described in this D2.1 will be built, during the UNIQORN project, with wavelength conversion capabilities based on PPLN waveguides. The specification of a QRNG integrated on a network interface card (NIC) is also described in here for practical evaluation in an operational system.

In addition to the previously mentioned systems, UNIQORN includes the design and specification of the oblivious and one-time program distribution systems, described in this D2.1. In this oblivious system, squeezed light sources will be used to implement an equivalent prepare-and-measure scheme. For the one-time program distribution system, UNIQORN contemplates the demonstration of a quantum information processing to execute and encode classical computation. Initial specifications are described in this document as well.

The third and final part of this deliverable D2.1 includes the UNIQORN application scenarios. One-time programs for cloud processing are detailed in this D2.1 with practical key performance indicators. These programs can be successfully applied with an arbitrarily high success probability in the implementation of one-time digital signatures. Oblivious transfer is also detailed in this document, aiming at the secure database access application.

With respect to optical networks, UNIQORN foresees the application scenarios of multidomain networking, 5G quantum security and DPS-based passive optical network (PON). For the case of the multidomain network, the operator’s metro network of COSMOTE is used as a reference for study of potential coexistence of classical and quantum channels. Then, the networking infrastructure in Bristol is considered for evaluating this coexistence. Regarding the 5G quantum security scenarios, in UNIQORN different aspects are considered and the key performance indicators are listed in D2.1. These 5G quantum security scenarios considered comprise novel 5G fronthaul and backhaul designs, including Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructures secured by quantum communications.

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