Quantum Key Distribution Demonstraion

Job ID: 34732428

Budget: $50 – $0 USD

I am a computer scientist interested in quantum communication and would like to build a simple physical demonstration of the BB84 protocol. For example, something like the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiMyjGn4QlE
https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=9869

But instead of being manually controlled, I would like to replace the mechanical parts with parts that can be manipulated electrically (e.g., using liquid crystals instead of manually rotating the plates for example) and controlled by a programming language (using Python or Matlab, for example). However, I am not an optical engineer, so I don't know what parts to order and how to make sure they will fit together. Here are my requirements:

- The ability to control how Alice chooses the preparation basis and bits using a programming language
- The ability to control whether Eve intercepts the communication or not using a programming language (controlling a mirror that will redirect the signal to Eve, for example)
- The ability to control how Eve chooses the measurement basis and reads the results using a programming language
- The ability to control how Eve chooses the preparation basis and bits that she will resend to Bob using a programming language
- The ability to control how Bob chooses the measurement basis and read out the results using a programming language

Deliverables:

- A list of equipment needed to build such a demo.
- Two versions, one using free space and another using fibre optics.
- Basic code starters (how to control the equipments, e.g. reading the results, choosing the basis)

Not required:

- I do not care about the speed as long as the entire protocol is controllable using a programming language. So please try to drive the cost as low as possible while keeping the process fully controllable by a computer.

- Programming the entire protocol
Related categories: Quantum Optical Engineering