Higher dimensional quantum communication in a curved spacetime: an efficient simulation of the propagation of the wavefront of a photon

Warner A. Miller; Paul M. Alsing; Doyeol Ahn

doi:10.1117/12.2305060

16 May 2018 Higher dimensional quantum communication in a curved spacetime: an efficient simulation of the propagation of the wavefront of a photon

Warner A. Miller, Paul M. Alsing, Doyeol Ahn

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10660, Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation X; 106600M (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2305060
Event: SPIE Commercial + Scientific Sensing and Imaging, 2018, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

A photon with a modulated wavefront can produce a quantum communication channel in a larger Hilbert space. For example, higher dimensional quantum key distribution (HD-QKD) can encode information in the transverse linear momentum (LM) or orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes of a photon. This is markedly different than using the intrinsic polarization of a photon. HD-QKD has advantages for free space QKD since it can increase the communication channels tolerance to bit error rate (BER) while maintaining or increasing the channels bandwidth. We describe an efficient numerical simulation of the propagation photon with an arbitrary complex wavefront in a material with an isotropic but inhomogeneous index of refraction. We simulate the waveform propagation of an optical vortex in a volume holographic element in the paraxial approximation using an operator splitting method. We use this code to analyze an OAM volume-holographic sorter. Furthermore, there are analogue models of the evolution of a wavefront in the curved spacetime environs of the Earth that can be constructed using an optical medium with a given index of refraction. This can lead to a work-bench realization of a satellite HD-QKD system.

Citation Download Citation

Warner A. Miller, Paul M. Alsing, and Doyeol Ahn "Higher dimensional quantum communication in a curved spacetime: an efficient simulation of the propagation of the wavefront of a photon", Proc. SPIE 10660, Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation X, 106600M (16 May 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2305060

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available