Improving Free-Space Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Adaptive Optics

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sayat, Mikhael T., Birch, Marcus, Copeland, Michael, Jager, Elisa, Thearle, Oliver, Bennet, Francis, Lam, Ping Koy, Rattenbury, Nicholas J., Cater, John E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866912587581489152
author Sayat, Mikhael T.
Birch, Marcus
Copeland, Michael
Jager, Elisa
Thearle, Oliver
Bennet, Francis
Lam, Ping Koy
Rattenbury, Nicholas J.
Cater, John E.
author_facet Sayat, Mikhael T.
Birch, Marcus
Copeland, Michael
Jager, Elisa
Thearle, Oliver
Bennet, Francis
Lam, Ping Koy
Rattenbury, Nicholas J.
Cater, John E.
contents A significant performance inhibitor of free-space continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) is turbulence, which gives rise to wavefront phase and amplitude aberrations. We demonstrate that in a turbulent channel, during coherent state transmissions from a continuous-wave laser, that the interferometric visibility between the local oscillator (LO) and quantum signal decreases. A solution to this is incorporating adaptive optics at the receiver to correct phase and amplitude aberrations in the wavefronts of the received quantum signal. We demonstrate the increased interferometric visibility and decrease in its fluctuations in a 60 cm and 30 m turbulent channel when using adaptive optics through channel characterisation. In an ideal CVQKD system, we show that this leads to more precise and larger positive secret key rates, improving the performance of free-space CVQKD in turbulent channels.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_11759
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improving Free-Space Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Adaptive Optics
Sayat, Mikhael T.
Birch, Marcus
Copeland, Michael
Jager, Elisa
Thearle, Oliver
Bennet, Francis
Lam, Ping Koy
Rattenbury, Nicholas J.
Cater, John E.
Quantum Physics
A significant performance inhibitor of free-space continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) is turbulence, which gives rise to wavefront phase and amplitude aberrations. We demonstrate that in a turbulent channel, during coherent state transmissions from a continuous-wave laser, that the interferometric visibility between the local oscillator (LO) and quantum signal decreases. A solution to this is incorporating adaptive optics at the receiver to correct phase and amplitude aberrations in the wavefronts of the received quantum signal. We demonstrate the increased interferometric visibility and decrease in its fluctuations in a 60 cm and 30 m turbulent channel when using adaptive optics through channel characterisation. In an ideal CVQKD system, we show that this leads to more precise and larger positive secret key rates, improving the performance of free-space CVQKD in turbulent channels.
title Improving Free-Space Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Adaptive Optics
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11759