Scientific article
Letter
OA Policy
English

Phase-correlation-free quantum key distribution source operating at gigahertz rates

Published inAPL photonics, vol. 11, no. 8, 081302
Publication date2026-08-01
First online date2026-08-14
Abstract

Phase randomization is essential for the security of practical decoy-state quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. Commonly, implementations rely on laser sources, which are either actively phase-randomized, or gain-switched. However, at high repetition rates, these show correlations, which can ultimately compromise security and performance. We present a 1.25 GHz phase-randomized QKD source based on a super-luminescent light emitting diode (SLED) operating in the C-band as a compact and cost-effective alternative. The source generates ∼100 ps optical pulses with 400 ps pulse-to-pulse separation, compatible with high-speed time-bin encoding. Interferometric measurements demonstrate >99% visibility between adjacent time bins, confirming strong first-order coherence within the same quantum signals, while the spontaneous-emission-driven nature of the SLED drives intrinsic global phase randomization between adjacent signals with a visibility upper bound of the order of 2%. This work establishes a scalable SLED-based platform for high-speed prepare-and-measure QKD systems.

UNIGE research groups
Funding
  • European Space AgencyPhi-Lab Switzerland as Part of ESA Phi-LabNET and ESA ScaleUp Program [MQ-SoC]
  • Swiss State Secretariat for Research and Innovation [UeM019-3]
  • Galician Regional Government
  • Spanish Ministry Science, Innovation and Universities
  • Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional [PID2024-162270OB-I00]
  • European Commission - Quantum-Safe-Internet [101072637]
Citation (ISO format)
KUMAR, Shashank et al. Phase-correlation-free quantum key distribution source operating at gigahertz rates. In: APL photonics, 2026, vol. 11, n° 8, p. 081302. doi: 10.1063/5.0347954
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN2378-0967
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