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Fiber-based double-pass single-crystal photon-pair source for quantum key distribution in a network

Maximilian Tippmann, Erik Fitzke, Oleg Nikiforov, Philipp Kleinpaß, Till Dolejsky, Maximilian Mengler, and Thomas Walther*

  • *Contact author: thomas.walther@physik.tu-darmstadt.de
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Phys. Rev. Applied 23, 034017 – Published 10 March, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.034017

Abstract

Entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols require robust and stable photon-pair sources in terms of high heralding efficiencies or photon-pair generation rates even under harsh environmental conditions, e.g., when operated in the field. Here we report on a type-0 spontaneous parametric down-conversion photon source in periodically poled crystals based on simultaneous operation of second harmonic generation and spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in a double-pass configuration within the same nonlinear crystal, further simplifying the hardware requirements of SPDC photon sources. Our source is flexible, tunable, alignment-free, relatively broadband, and completely fiber coupled. Its rack-compatible and modular setup allows a straightforward plug-and-play integration of coding modules, e.g., interferometers to enable various QKD protocols such as phase or phase-time coding. We compare the double-pass configuration with our single-pass type-II and type-0 SPDC source configurations. To evaluate the conversion efficiencies of our modules, we use data postprocessing to remove artifacts from detector after-pulsing and dead times of the detectors.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 23, 034017– Published 10 March, 2025
  • Received 16 February 2024
  • Revised 6 December 2024
  • Accepted 4 February 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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