Stable quantum key distribution using a silicon photonic transceiver

Opt Express. 2019 Sep 30;27(20):29045-29054. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.029045.

Abstract

The wider deployment of commercial quantum key distribution (QKD) may benefit from an integrated system with reduced cost, small form-of-factor and high robutness. Silicon photonic circuits are good candidates while their performance stability in some contexts remains a challenge. We demonstrate a silicon photonic QKD transceiver based on time-bin protocol. The stability of the transceiver is investigated and a feedback function is proposed to improve the temperature-dependent performance of the transceiver. With the help of a faster data-processing ability, such scheme can facilitate more application scenarios, therefore achieving wider implementation of QKD in the future.