Measuring Blackbody Noise in Silica Optical Fibres for Quantum and Classical Communication

TL;DR

This paper quantifies blackbody radiation noise in silica optical fibres at near-room temperature, revealing a fundamental noise floor impacting quantum and classical communication fidelity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of blackbody noise in silica fibres near room temperature, highlighting its impact on quantum and classical communication.

Findings

Measured approximately 0.1 photons/s/THz blackbody noise at 40°C

Validated blackbody spectrum with a coarse spectral measurement

Identified an anomaly around 1430nm likely due to -OH impurities

Abstract

Deployment of practical quantum networks, which operate at or near single photon levels, requires carefully quantifying noise processes. We investigate noise due to blackbody radiation emitted into the guided mode of silica single mode optical fibres near room temperature, which to date is under-explored in the literature. We utilise a single photon avalanche detector and lock in detection to measure $\approx$0.1 photons/s/THz ($\approx$-170dBm/THz) at 40{\deg}C near the optically thick limit of 20km in silica fibre. We also measure a coarse spectrum to validate the blackbody behaviour, and observe a prominent anomaly around the 1430nm CWDM channel, likely due to -OH impurities. Though the magnitude of this noise is small, it is additive noise which imposes a fundamental limit in raw fidelity in quantum communication, and a fundamental noise floor in classical communication over optical fibres.