Photon pair generator and quantum cryptography system employing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129021-B2
Application number	US-201514684513-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2014
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A photon pair generator includes a light source configured to emit light, and a nonlinear optical element configured to receive the light radiated from the light source and generate a quantum-entangled photon pair through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), the nonlinear optical element including a polar material layer and a nonlinear material layer provided on the polar material layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A photon pair generator comprising:
a light source configured to emit light; and
a nonlinear optical element configured to receive the light radiated from the light source and generate a quantum-entangled photon pair through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), the nonlinear optical element comprising a polar material layer and a nonlinear material layer provided on the polar material layer,
wherein the nonlinear material layer comprises a graphene sheet and SPDC occurs on a two-dimensional plane on which the graphene sheet is disposed, and
wherein the polar material layer comprises a waveguide, the wave guide comprising one of a first waveguide and a second waveguide,
the first wave guide comprising:
a core portion; and
a cladding portion having a refractive index that is less than a refractive index of the core portion, and surrounding the core portion, and

the second wave guide comprising:
a cladding portion forming an internal cavity, the internal cavity being filled with a material with a refractive index that is lower than the refractive index of the cladding portion.

2. The photon pair generator of claim 1 , wherein the polar material layer comprises:
a substrate; and
the one of the first waveguide and the second waveguide is provided on a portion of a surface of the substrate,
wherein the nonlinear material layer is provided along portions of the surface of the substrate other than the portion of the surface of the substrate on which the one of the first waveguide and the second waveguide is formed, and is further provided along external surfaces of the one of the first waveguide and the second waveguide.

3. The photon pair generator of claim 1 , wherein the light source comprises a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser.

4. The photon pair generator of claim 1 , wherein the light source and the nonlinear optical element are integrally formed in an integrated all-in-one chip.

5. An electronic device, comprising:
a photon pair generator comprising:
a light source configured to emit light; and
a nonlinear optical element configured to receive the light radiated from the light source and generate a quantum-entangled photon pair through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), the nonlinear optical element comprising a polar material layer and a nonlinear material layer provided on the polar material layer,

wherein the nonlinear material layer comprises a graphene sheet and SPDC occurs on a two-dimensional plane on which the graphene sheet is disposed,
wherein the polar material layer comprises a waveguide, the wave guide comprising one of a first waveguide and a second waveguide,
the first wave guide comprising:
a core portion; and
a cladding portion having a refractive index that is less than a refractive index of the core portion, and surrounding the core portion, and

the second wave guide comprising:
a cladding portion forming an internal cavity, the internal cavity being filled with a material with a refractive index that is lower than the refractive index of the cladding portion.

6. A quantum cryptographic system comprising:
a photon pair generator comprising:
a light source configured to emit light; and
a nonlinear optical element configured to receive the light radiated from the light source and generate a quantum-entangled photon pair comprising a first photon and a second photon through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), the nonlinear optical element comprising a polar material layer and a nonlinear material layer provided on the polar material layer, wherein the nonlinear material layer comprises a graphene sheet and spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) occurs on a two-dimensional plane on which the graphene sheet is disposed, wherein the polar material layer comprises a waveguide, the wave guide comprising one of a first waveguide and a second waveguide,

the first wave guide comprising:
a core portion; and
a cladding portion having a refractive index that is less than a refractive index of the core portion, and surrounding the core portion, and

the second wave guide comprising:
a cladding portion forming an internal cavity, the internal cavity being filled with a material with a refractive index that is lower than the refractive index of the cladding portion; and

a first measuring system, implemented by at least one hardware processor, and a second measuring system, implemented by at least one hardware processor, configured to receive the first photon and the second photon, respectively.

7. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein each of the first measuring system and the second measuring system comprises:
an optical path divider configured to divide paths of incident photons;
a photodetector configured to detect a photon being transmitted along one of the divided paths, and thereby generate a detection result; and
a hardware signal processor configured to generate a bit sequence by selecting bit values corresponding to the detection result generated by the photodetector.

8. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 7 , wherein the photodetector comprises an avalanche photodiode.

9. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the photon pair generator further comprises an optical modulator provided between the light source and the nonlinear optical element and configured to modulate the light emitted from the light source.

10. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the photon pair generator further comprises an interferometer configured to control an entangled state of the quantum-entangled photon pair generated by the nonlinear optical element.

11. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the photon pair generator is further configured to generate a polarization-entangled photon pair.

12. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the photon pair generator is further configured to generate a frequency-entangled photon pair.

13. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the photon pair generator is further configured to generate a time-energy entangled photon pair.

14. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein:
the first measuring system is a system of a local user,
the second measuring system is a system of a remote user, and
the system further comprises a time controller configured to enable the first measuring system and the second measuring system to select same bit values with respect to the first photon and the second photon.

15. The quantum cryptographic system of claim 6 , wherein the first measuring system and the photon pair generator are provided in a first electronic device, and
the second measuring system is provided in a second electronic device spaced apart from the first electronic device.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jeong Heejeong
• Kyoung Jisoo
• Lee Changwon
• Baik Chanwook
• Lee Yeryoung

Classifications

• H04L9/0852 Primary

  Quantum cryptography (transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. light, infrared H04B10/00; wavelength-division multiplex systems H04J14/02; WDM arrangements H04J14/03) · CPC title

• H04B10/70

  Photonic quantum communication · CPC title