Fiber-Optic quantum two-way time transfer with frequency entangled pulses

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a fiber-optic two-way quantum time transfer method using frequency-entangled pulses, achieving femtosecond-level precision over 20 km with improved accuracy and security compared to classical methods.

Contribution

The authors experimentally realize a fiber-optic quantum time transfer system with nonlocal dispersion cancellation, achieving femtosecond precision and demonstrating its advantages over classical approaches.

Findings

Time deviation of 922 fs over 5 s and 45 fs over 40960 s

Uncertainty of 2.46 ps in standard deviation over 20 km

Enhanced security and potential for high-precision synchronization

Abstract

High-precision time transfer is of fundamental interest in physics and metrology. Quantum time transfer technologies that use frequency-entangled pulses and their coincidence detection have been proposed, offering potential enhancements in precision and better guarantees of security. In this paper, we describe a fiber-optic two-way quantum time transfer experiment. Using quantum nonlocal dispersion cancellation, time transfer over a 20-km fiber link achieves a time deviation of 922 fs over 5 s and 45 fs over 40960 s. The time transfer accuracy as a function of fiber lengths from 15 m to 20 km is also investigated, and an uncertainty of 2.46 ps in standard deviation is observed. In comparison with its classical counterparts, the fiber-optic two-way quantum time transfer setup shows appreciable improvement, and further enhancements could be obtained by using new event timers with sub-picosecond precision and single-photon detectors with lower timing jitter for optimized coincidence detection. Combined with its security advantages, the femtosecond-scale two-way quantum time transfer is expected to have numerous applications in high-precision middle-haul synchronization systems.