Assessing a binary quantum channel exploiting a Silicon photomultiplier based hybrid receiver

TL;DR

This paper evaluates a Silicon photomultiplier-based receiver for quantum channels, exploring its potential to enhance quantum communication and key distribution through different detection configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of Silicon photomultiplier detectors in quantum channels and assesses their performance in information transmission and quantum key distribution.

Findings

Preliminary results show promising performance for quantum communication.

Different post-processing configurations impact the mutual information and security.

Encourages further research into Silicon photomultiplier-based quantum receivers.

Abstract

In quantum communication protocols, the use of photon-number-resolving detectors could open new perspectives by broadening the way to encode and decode information, and merging the properties of discrete and continuous variables. In this work, we consider a quantum channel exploiting a Silicon-photomultiplier-based receiver and evaluate its performance for quantum communication protocols under three possible configurations, defined by different post-processing of the detection outcomes. We investigate two scenarios: information transmission over the channel, quantified by the mutual information, and continuous-variable quantum key distribution. The preliminary results encourage further use of this detection scheme in extended networks.