Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Scott A Hamilton.
We survey the system trades involved in selecting and building entanglement sources and other quantum technologies relevant for a satellite downlink demonstration of heralded entanglement distribution.
A quantum state analysis is applied to a potential architecture for entanglement distribution from space to asses several design choices and maximize the distribution rate while maintaining entanglement quality.
We investigate entanglement source synchronization using a forwarded-pump signal sent over a 3.2-km free-space retro-reflected link. Results show sub-picosecond alignment between the sources. The paper considers several fundamental and practical aspects of this approach.
Unheralded teleportation with Optical Bell State Measurements using SPDC sources are limited to 0.5 fidelity. Single photon emissions and non-destructive heralding from quantum memories overcomes this limit.
We designed and built two polarization entanglement sources optimized for high-rate quantum networking under pump power constraints. We demonstrated entanglement swapping between the sources.
Precision synchronization is vital for robust long-distance quantum networking over fiber and free-space channels for which high-fidelity entanglement swapping between separate sources via an optical Bell state measurement requires temporal overlap of photonic qubits arriving from either source. This challenge is particularly distinct in satellite-based entanglement distribution in which relative motion, channel effects, and propagation delay must be addressed. This work presents a precision synchronization method for free space entanglement distribution, and reports on risk reduction testing in a quantum networking testbed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Primary consideration is for a dual-uplink architecture in which photons from entanglement sources at two ground locations interact in an optical Bell-state measurement implemented on a satellite in a low-earth orbit. The control approach uses independent entanglement sources at each ground location supplemented with a synchronization signal for feedback control from a timing discriminant measured at the spacecraft. The approach is being implemented in a laboratory testbed using 1-GHz repetition rate 1550-nm band entanglement sources generating ~10-MHz source entanglement rates with few-ps photon pulse lengths. The paper describes both fundamental architectural considerations and practical implementation details.
Efficient transmission of optical beams from ground to space is important for free-space entanglement distribution in a dual-uplink architecture in which photons from entanglement sources at two ground locations interact in an optical Bell-state measurement implemented on a satellite. Efficient transmission requires large transmitting apertures to minimize diffraction losses and high-performance adaptive optics to overcome the effects of atmospheric turbulence. Achieving good atmospheric compensation for beams transmitted to satellites is challenging because the need to point ahead of the satellite introduces anisoplanatism error that limits the effectiveness of the adaptive optics. An attractive approach for solving the point-ahead problem is to position a separate small satellite at the point-ahead location to provide a beacon source for the adaptive optics. This paper presents analysis of the requirements for the beacon source(s) for a dual-uplink entanglement-distribution demonstration. A relative performance metric is defined and evaluated for multiple beacon configurations, from a single, fixed beacon serving both ground sites to a dedicated beacon for each site continually adjusted to be at the correct point-ahead distance from the target satellite.