Shi, Y.
, Rahmouni, A.
, Shrestha, P.
, Merzouki, M.
, Battou, A.
, Slattery, O.
, Gerrits, T.
, Namazi, M.
, Flament, M.
, Lazenby, A.
, Bello Portmann, G.
and Su, J.
(2026),
Entanglement Distribution over a Polarization-Stabilized Aerial Fiber, Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=961391 (Accessed October 10, 2026)
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Entanglement Distribution over a Polarization-Stabilized Aerial Fiber
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Author(s)
, , , , , , , Mehdi Namazi, Mael Flament, Anne Margaret Lazenby, Gabriel Bello Portmann, Jing Su
Abstract
Distributing quantum entanglement over telecommunication fiber is a fundamental task in metropolitan-scale quantum networks, enabling advanced applications such as quantum-secured communication, quantum sensing and distributed quantum computing. Although polarization entanglement is relatively easy to generate and manipulate, its distribution across deployed fibers is challenging because of the time-varying polarization transformations imposed by the fiber, which must be actively stabilized. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate the distribution of polarization-entangled photons over a 62-km, partially-aerial fiber between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland. With polarization stabilization applied to the fiber, we achieved a photon pair rate of approximately 1500 counts per second and observed a time-averaged CHSH inequality parameter of S=2.34 +-0.37. During a continuous 24-hour experiment, time-multiplexed polarization compensation sessions only cost 7.2% of the total link operation time, leaving an entanglement distribution uptime of 92.8%. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of distributing polarization-entangled photons over challenging fiber conditions, which is an important step towards the practical deployment of quantum networks.Citation
Journal of Optical Communications and Networking
Pub Type
Journals
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Keywords
Quantum Networking, Entanglement Distribution, Polarization Stabilization
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Created June 15, 2026, Updated October 9, 2026