IP Library Granted Patent US 9,178,623
Granted Patent B2
US 9,178,623 · App. 13/985,565 · Granted Nov 3, 2015

Photon phase modulating system

Inventors: Wei Chen (Anhui, CN); Shuang Wang (Anhui, CN); Zhenqiang Yin (Anhui, CN); Dajun Huang (Anhui, CN); Yang Yang (Anhui, CN); Zheng Zhou (Anhui, CN); Deyong He (Anhui, CN); Yuhu Li (Anhui, CN); Zhengfu Han (Anhui, CN); Yonggang Wang (Anhui, CN); Guangcan Guo (Anhui, CN)
Assignee: University of Science and Technology China
H04B10/5561H04B10/70H04L9/0852
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,178,623
App. No.
13/985,565
Granted
Nov 3, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present invention utilizes a high-speed serial data transceiver to generate two high-speed electric pulse signals. After passing through a gain network, the signals are used for driving an electro-optic phase modulator (PM) so as to realize phase modulation of photon signals. The present invention may directly use a high-speed digital signal to realize a four-phase modulation function needed by the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol without using a digital to analog converter or an analog switch. This can prevent modulation rate from being restricted by links including digital-to-analog conversion, switching of the analog and the like. A dual-electrode electro-optic phase modulator scheme can also effectively reduce requirements for amplitude of a modulation driving signal, thus facilitating realization of high-speed phase modulation, which meets requirements of quantum key distribution.

Claims (107)

1. A photon phase modulating system, comprising:

a random number generating unit, configured to generate a random digital number;

a parallel/serial converting unit, configured to perform parallel/serial conversion on the random digital number generated by the random number generating unit to obtain a serial random digital signal;

a high-speed serial transceiver, configured to receive the serial random digital signals generated by the parallel/serial converting unit and outputting two separate digital driving signals;

a gain control network, configured to perform gain control on the two separate digital driving signals respectively, and to generate two driving signals for driving an electro-optic phase modulator; and

the electro-optic phase modulator having two separate modulation electrodes, each of which receives a corresponding one of the two driving signals, the electro-optic phase being configured to perform phase modulation on an inputted photon and implement four-phase modulation on the inputted photon based on a combination of the two separate digital driving signals.

2. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a feedback circuit, configured to measure an variation of a half-wave voltage caused by temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator, to generate a gain parameter control signal based on the measured variation of the half-wave voltage, and to feed the gain parameter control signal back to the gain control network for controlling a gain of the gain control network, so as to compensate for the variation of the half-wave voltage caused by the temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator.

3. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a temperature control circuit for keeping an operating temperature of the electro-optic phase modulator at a set temperature.

4. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 1 , wherein

the random number generating unit, the parallel/serial converting unit and the high-speed serial transceiver are implemented by a single FPGA chip.

5. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 1 , wherein the gain control network further comprises:

a first attenuating unit, configured to attenuate an input signal;

a gain amplifying unit, configured to amplify the signal attenuated by the first attenuating unit; and

a second attenuating unit, configured to attenuate the signal amplified by the gain amplifying unit.

6. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 5 , wherein the first attenuating unit, the gain amplifying unit or the second attenuating unit has a fixed gain or an adjustable gain.

7. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 1 wherein

a gain for one of the two separate digital driving signals is a half-wave voltage of the electro-optic phase modulator, and a gain for the other of the two separate digital driving signals is half the half-wave voltage of the electro-optic modulator.

8. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 7 , wherein correspondences between the two separate digital driving signals P1 and P2 and a modulation phase generated by the electro-optic phase modulator are expressed in the following table:

P2

P1

0

1

0

0

 π/2

1

π

3π/2

wherein the first column is a value of one of the two separate digital driving signals, P1, the first row is a value of the other one of the two separate digital driving signals, P2, and numeric values in cells are corresponding modulation phases generated by the electro-optic phase modulator.

9. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 7 , wherein correspondences between the two separate digital driving signals P1 and P2 and a modulation phase generated by the electro-optic phase modulator are expressed in the following table:

P2

P1

0

1

0

−π3/4

−π/4

1

   π/4

3π/4

wherein the first column is a value of one of the two separate digital driving signals, P1, the first row is a value of the other one of the two separate digital driving signals, P2, and numeric values in cells are corresponding modulation phases generated by the electro-optic phase modulator.

10. A photon phase modulating system, comprising:

a random number generating unit, configured to generate a random digital number;

a parallel/serial converting unit, configured to perform parallel/serial conversion on the random digital number generated by the random number generating unit to obtain a serials random digital signal;

a high-speed serial transceiver, configured to receive the serial random digital signal generated by the parallel/serial converting unit and output two separate digital driving signals;

an adder circuit, configured to perform analogue summation on the two separate digital driving signals to obtain a four-level driving signal;

a gain control network, configured to perform gain control on the four-level driving signal, and to generate a four-level driving signal for driving an electro-optic phase modulator; and

the electro-optic phase modulator having a single modulation electrode, which receives the four-level driving signal for driving the electro-optic phase modulator, the electro-optic phase modulator being configured to perform phase modulation on an inputted photon and implement four-phase modulation on the inputted photon based on a combination of the two separate digital driving signals.

11. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 10 , wherein the adder circuit performs the following analogues summation on the two separate digital driving signals P1 and P2: 2×P1+P2.

12. The photon phase modulating system, according to claim 10 , further comprising:

a feedback circuit, configured to measure a variation of a half-wave voltage caused by temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator, to generate a gain parameter control signal based on the measured variation of the half-wave voltage, and to feed the gain parameter control signal back to the gain control network for controlling a gain of the gain control network, so as to compensate for the variation of the half-wave voltage caused by the temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator.

13. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 10 , further comprising:

a temperature control circuit for keeping an operating temperature of the electro-optic phase modulator at a set temperature.

14. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 10 , wherein

the random number generating unit, the parallel/serial converting unit and the high-speed serial transceiver are implemented by a single FPGA chip.

15. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 10 , wherein the gain control network further comprises:

a first attenuating unit, configured to attenuate an input signal;

a gain amplifying unit, configured to amplify the signal attenuated by the first attenuating unit; and

a second attenuating unit, configured to attenuate the signal amplified by the gain amplifying unit.

16. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 15 , wherein the first attenuating unit, the gain amplifying unit or the second attenuating unit has a fixed gain or an adjustable gain.

17. A photon phase modulating system, comprising:

a random number generating unit, configured to generate a random digital number;

a parallel/serial converting unit, configured to perform parallel/serial conversion on the random digital number generated by the random number generating unit to obtain a serial random digital signal;

a high-speed serial transceiver, configured to receive the serial's random digital signal generated by the parallel/serial converting unit and output two separate digital driving signals;

a gain control network, configured to perform gain control on the two separate digital driving signals respectively and generate two driving signals;

an adder circuit, configured to perform analogue summation on the two driving signals to obtain a four-level driving signal for driving an electro-optic phase modulator; and

the electro-optic phase modulator having a single modulation electrode, which receives the four-level driving signal for driving the electro-optic phase modulator, the electro-optic phase modulator being configured to perform phase modulation on an inputted photon and implement four-phase modulation on the inputted photon based on a combination of the two separate digital driving signals.

18. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 17 , further comprising:

A feedback circuit, configured to measure an variation of a half-wave voltage caused by temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator, to generate a gain parameter control signal based on the measured variation of the half-wave voltage, and to feed the gain parameter control signal back to the gain control network for controlling a gain of the gain control network, so as to compensate for the variation of the half-wave voltage caused by the temperature drift of the electro-optic phase modulator.

19. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 17 , further comprising:

a temperature control circuit for keeping an operating temperature of the electro-optic phase modulator at a set temperature.

20. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 17 , wherein

the random number generating unit, the parallel/serial converting unit and the high-speed serial transceiver are implemented by a single FPGA chip.

21. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 17 , wherein the gain control network further comprises:

a first attenuating unit, configured to attenuate an input signal;

a gain amplifying unit, configured to amplify the signal attenuated by the first attenuating unit; and

a second attenuating unit, configured to attenuate the signal amplified by the gain amplifying unit.

22. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 21 , wherein

the first attenuating unit, the gain amplifying unit or the second attenuating unit has a fixed gain or an adjustable gain.

23. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 17 , wherein

a gain for one of the two separate digital driving signals is a half-wave voltage of the electro-optic phase modulator, and a gain for the other of the two separate digital driving signals is half the half-wave voltage of the electro-optic modulator.

24. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 23 , wherein correspondences between the two separate digital driving signals P1 and P2 and a modulation phase generated by the electro-optic phase modulator are expressed in the following table:

P2

P1

0

1

0

0

 π/2

1

π

3π/2

wherein the first column is a value of one of the two separate digital driving signals, P1, the first row is a value of the other one of the two separate digital driving signals, P2, and numeric values in cells are corresponding modulation phases generated by the electro-optic phase modulator.

25. The photon phase modulating system according to claim 23 , wherein correspondences between two separate digital driving signals P1 and P2 and a modulation phase generated by the electro-optic phase modulator are expressed in the following table:

P2

P1

0

1

0

−π3/4

−π/4

1

   π/4

3π/4

wherein the first column is a value of one of the two separate digital driving signals, P1, the first row is a value of the other one of the two separate digital driving signals, P2, and numeric values in cells are corresponding modulation phases generated by the electro-optic phase modulator.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 2, 2013
From: CHEN, WEI; WANG, SHUANG; YIN, ZHENQIANG; HUANG, DAJUN; YANG, YANG; ZHOU, ZHENG; HE, DEYONG; LI, YUHU; HAN, ZHENGFU; WANG, YONGGANG; GUO, GUANGCAN
To: UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA
Reel/Frame 031329/0168 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 2012 1 0186768 · Jun 7, 2012 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20140205302A1 · Jul 24, 2014