High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser
Quantum key distribution offers a promising avenue for establishing secure communication networks. However, its performance is significantly hampered by the conventional two-level information carriers (i.e., qubits) due to their limited information capacity and noise resilience. A fundamental approa...
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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American Physical Society
2025-02-01
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Series: | Physical Review X |
Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011024 |
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author | Yichi Zhang Haoqi Zhao Tianwei Wu Zihe Gao Li Ge Liang Feng |
author_facet | Yichi Zhang Haoqi Zhao Tianwei Wu Zihe Gao Li Ge Liang Feng |
author_sort | Yichi Zhang |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Quantum key distribution offers a promising avenue for establishing secure communication networks. However, its performance is significantly hampered by the conventional two-level information carriers (i.e., qubits) due to their limited information capacity and noise resilience. A fundamental approach to overcoming these limitations involves the adoption of high-dimensional qudits. Practical qudit platforms require robust propagation, outstanding controllability, and extreme compactness, to which integrated photonics provides a promising solution. Here, we achieved, for the first time, microlaser-enabled high-dimensional quantum communication through leveraging spin-orbit photon qudits, where the dynamical generation and manipulation of these multi-degrees-of-freedom complex quantum state are realized by a non-Hermitian-physics-driven integrated microlaser quantum transmitter. Such a microlaser photon manipulation, as a novel route towards high-dimensional quantum state generation, promises high energy efficiency, along with fast, compact, and precise qudit state reconfigurability. The four spin-orbit eigenstates emitted by the microlaser possess the same spatial-temporal structures, ensuring homogeneity between all qudit states used for key distribution, which effectively eliminates propagation dephasing and walk-off problems, thereby delivering the high-dimensional spin-orbit secret key generation to construct a robust quantum link. The demonstrated long-term system stability showcases the practical potential of the microlaser quantum transmitter, providing a critical step towards compact, high-information-capacity quantum communication networks. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-41810f895b164be48bef44b985ab812a |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 2160-3308 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
publisher | American Physical Society |
record_format | Article |
series | Physical Review X |
spelling | doaj-art-41810f895b164be48bef44b985ab812a2025-02-05T15:04:31ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review X2160-33082025-02-0115101102410.1103/PhysRevX.15.011024High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit MicrolaserYichi ZhangHaoqi ZhaoTianwei WuZihe GaoLi GeLiang FengQuantum key distribution offers a promising avenue for establishing secure communication networks. However, its performance is significantly hampered by the conventional two-level information carriers (i.e., qubits) due to their limited information capacity and noise resilience. A fundamental approach to overcoming these limitations involves the adoption of high-dimensional qudits. Practical qudit platforms require robust propagation, outstanding controllability, and extreme compactness, to which integrated photonics provides a promising solution. Here, we achieved, for the first time, microlaser-enabled high-dimensional quantum communication through leveraging spin-orbit photon qudits, where the dynamical generation and manipulation of these multi-degrees-of-freedom complex quantum state are realized by a non-Hermitian-physics-driven integrated microlaser quantum transmitter. Such a microlaser photon manipulation, as a novel route towards high-dimensional quantum state generation, promises high energy efficiency, along with fast, compact, and precise qudit state reconfigurability. The four spin-orbit eigenstates emitted by the microlaser possess the same spatial-temporal structures, ensuring homogeneity between all qudit states used for key distribution, which effectively eliminates propagation dephasing and walk-off problems, thereby delivering the high-dimensional spin-orbit secret key generation to construct a robust quantum link. The demonstrated long-term system stability showcases the practical potential of the microlaser quantum transmitter, providing a critical step towards compact, high-information-capacity quantum communication networks.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011024 |
spellingShingle | Yichi Zhang Haoqi Zhao Tianwei Wu Zihe Gao Li Ge Liang Feng High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser Physical Review X |
title | High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser |
title_full | High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser |
title_fullStr | High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser |
title_full_unstemmed | High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser |
title_short | High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution by a Spin-Orbit Microlaser |
title_sort | high dimensional quantum key distribution by a spin orbit microlaser |
url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011024 |
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