A Compact PCI-based Measurement and Control System for Satellite-Ground Quantum Communication

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact PCI-based multi-channel measurement and control system designed for satellite-ground quantum communication, achieving high time-resolution, data transfer rate, and system stability for quantum experiments.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel compact PCI-based electronics system with high time-resolution and data transfer capabilities tailored for satellite-ground quantum communication.

Findings

Time bin size of 23.9ps achieved

RMS time precision less than 24ps for 16 channels

Data transfer rate up to 35 MBps

Abstract

Since the 1990s, there has been a dramatic interest in quantum communication. Free-space quantum communication is being developed to ultra-long distance quantum experiment, which requires higher electronics performance, such as time measurement precision, data-transfer rate, and system integration density. As part of the ground station of quantum experiment satellite that will be launched in 2016, we specifically designed a compact PCI-based multi-channel electronics system with high time-resolution, high data-transfer-rate. The electronics performance of this system was tested. The time bin size is 23.9ps and the time precision root-mean-square (RMS) is less than 24ps for 16 channels. The dead time is 30ns. The data transfer rate to local computer is up to 35 MBps, and the count rate is up to 30M/s. The system has been proven to perform well and operate stably through a test of free space quantum key distribution (QKD) experiment.