High Speed Homodyne Detector for Gaussian - Modulated Coherent - State Quantum Key Distribution by Yuemeng Chi

High Speed Homodyne Detector for Gaussian-Modulated Coherent-State Quantum Key Distribution Yuemeng Chi Master of Applied Science Graduate Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Toronto 2009 We developed a high speed homodyne detector in the telecommunication wavelength region for a Gaussian-modulated coherent-state quantum key distribution experiment. We are able to achieve a 100 MHz bandwidth, ultra-low electronic noise and pulse-resolved homodyne detector. The bandwidth of this homodyne detector has reached the same order of magnitude of the best homodyne detectors reported. By overcoming photodiode response functions mismatch, choosing proper laser sources, ensuring the homodyne detector linearity and stabilizing the homodyne detection system, we demonstrate that the homodyne detector has a 10 dB shot-noise-to-electronic-noise ratio in the time domain at a local oscillator of 5.4 108 photons/pulse at a laser repetition rate of 10 MHz. With this homodyne detector, we expect to increase our GMCS QKD experiment speed by 100 times, which will improve the key generation rate by 1-2 orders of magnitude.