Single photon quantum cryptography.
We report the full implementation of a quantum cryptography protocol using a stream of single photon pulses generated by a stable and efficient source operating at room temperature. The single photon pulses are emitted on demand by a single nitrogen-vacancy color center in a diamond nanocrystal. The quantum bit error rate is less that 4.6% and the secure bit rate is 7700 bits/s. The overall performances of our system reaches a domain where single photons have a measurable advantage over an equivalent system based on attenuated light pulses.
Beveratos
Alexios
A
Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, F-91403 Orsay, France. alexios.beveratos@iota.u-psud.fr
Brouri
Rosa
R
Gacoin
Thierry
T
Villing
André
A
Poizat
Jean-Philippe
JP
Grangier
Philippe
P