University of Stuttgart Deploys Quantum Dot QKD Link Using Frequency Conversion Over Campus Fiber
quantumcomputingreport.com Nov 1, 2026

University of Stuttgart Deploys Quantum Dot QKD Link Using Frequency Conversion Over Campus Fiber

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

The University of Stuttgart, together with Saarland University and Leibniz IFW Dresden, demonstrated an entanglement‑based BBM92 QKD link using photons from an epitaxial quantum dot after frequency conversion. Operating at a 1 GHz excitation rate over a 1.59 km campus fiber, the system produced 14.2 Mbit of secure key, which encrypted an image with a one‑time pad. Unlike conventional QKD that relies on attenuated lasers or SPDC sources, the quantum‑dot emitter provides deterministic, sub‑Poissonian photons but emits outside telecom bands. The team coupled a GaAs quantum dot to a polarization‑preserving Sagnac frequency converter, shifting one photon of each entangled pair into the low‑loss telecom window while preserving polarization correlations. Over 19 hours the Stokes parameters stayed above 0.995, showing quantum‑dot sources can serve networks.

💡 Why It Matters

  • · Demonstrating deterministic, telecom‑compatible quantum‑dot emitters proves a scalable path for secure city‑wide quantum communications.