…some impressions from our journey to the ECOC 2019 conference in Dublin, Ireland. Hannes Hübel from AIT Austrian Institute of Technology delivered a talk on our mission to squeeze quantum labs onto chips in course of the Hybrid PIC Workshop, which gave us the opportunity to fruitfully elaborate with other integration platforms on possible joint activity. With respect to the other end of the food chain of quantum technology, George Kanellos from University of Bristol enriched the Symposium on Optical Interconnects in Datacenters, where he gave insight in the extensive and well-furnished optical network test-bed in Bristol, which is already integrating quantum links in co-existence with classical data traffic. On the vivid exhibition floor, VPIphotonics showcased a simulation toolkit for continuous-variable signal transmission. Other UNIQORN partners attended the conference and the exhibition as well!
Date: Sunday, September 22nd from 2pm to 5:30pm Place: Dublin, Ireland
“Hybrid Photonic Integrated Circuits (Hybrid PICs) are complex and cost-effective at the same time. This half-day workshop will cover all topics of Hybrid PICs from materials to integration technologies, enabling platforms and modelling tools towards their use in different fields of applications such as communications, quantum technologies, analytics, and sensing.”
Place: Haus der Forschung, Wien Date: 28 Juni 2019 Organizer: FFG & FWF
“FFG together with the FWF are organising an event for the national call for proposals on the Quantum Research and Technology 2019 topic. Information on the call for tenders and other international funding opportunities in the field of quantum research and technology will be presented. Furthermore, presentations on the already funded projects under the topic of quantum research and technology will take place.”
Our project coordinator will give a keynote speech on “Integration von Quanten Systemen auf photonischen Chips für Quanten-Kommunikations Anwendungen”.
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.
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!
