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Impact of polarization mode dispersion on entangled photon distribution

Vadim Rodimin1,*, Konstantin Kravtsov1, Rui Ming Chua1,2, Gianluca De Santis1, Aleksei Ponasenko1,†, Yury Kurochkin1, Alexander Ling3, and James A. Grieve1

  • *Contact author: vadim.rodimin@tii.ae
  • †Contact author: aleksei.ponasenko@tii.ae
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Phys. Rev. A 112, 032620 – Published 22 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/l2l7-b98w

Abstract

The polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in optical fibers poses a major challenge for maintaining the fidelity of quantum states for quantum communications. In this work, a comprehensive model linking the probability of quantum measurement errors (infidelity) to PMD is developed and validated by experimental measurements of differential group delay and quantum bit error rate (QBER). Our research proposes effective methods to mitigate PMD effects for broadband entangled photons and evaluates the impact of higher-order PMD effects. The model provides an experimentally verified framework for the optimization of commercial quantum key distribution systems in deployed fiber-optic lines.

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Phys. Rev. A 112, 032620– Published 22 September, 2025
  • Received 9 April 2025
  • Accepted 20 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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