In the ever-advancing realm of modern technology, the demand for unparalleled precision and stability in timekeeping and frequency control has surged to unprecedented heights. As our interconnected world rellies more than ever on intricate synchronization and seamless communication, the development of cutting-edge optical infrastructure has emerged as a cornerstone in meeting these exacting demands. There has been obvious increased continuous focus on precise time and frequency transmission dissemination at a national and international level recently. We would like to present the situation in the Czech Republic, our strategy, approach, and our experience with a non-commercial, costeffective solution that utilizes optical networks shared with other traffic. The presented solution provides accurate time and stable frequency at a lower operational cost, using the shared spectrum of the CESNET3 network infrastructure.
There has been an increased focus on precise time and frequency transmission dissemination at a national and international level recently. We would like to present the situation in the Czech Republic, our strategy, approach, and our experience with a non-commercial, cost-effective solution that utilizes shared optical networks. The presented solution provides accurate time and stable frequency at a lower operational cost, utilizing the shared spectrum of the CESNET3 network infrastructure. We are committed to future developments and upgrades that will include the next wavelength bands and geographic extensions. Additionally, we have implemented bidirectional dark channels on various wavebands, which utilize shared leased fibers and offer bidirectional compensation for fiber losses. However, operating precise time and frequency requires a single path with bidirectional amplification performed by optical amplifiers, which are sensitive to feedback from the fiber line induced by back-scattering, and reflections, and which can cause unwanted oscillations. We have addressed this issue by carefully solving the interference with parallel data transmissions. In summary, we have implemented a cost-effective solution for precise time and frequency dissemination in the Czech Republic, which utilizes shared optical networks. We are committed to future developments, and we are also part of a consortium that plans to realize a Pan-European network to offer time and frequency services to a broad range of users.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a promising tool for secure communication in the near future. In combination with one-time-pad technique, it provides an unconditionally secure communication channel (meaning that it is secure against an adversary, even with unlimited computational power), at least in principle. However, a major implementation challenge for some schemes is the reliable creation, transportation, and measurement of entangled photon pairs over long-distance fiber networks. Our project aims to explore the possibilities for distributing quantum information on an existing network infrastructure while measuring the effects of real-world conditions. We characterized a commercial source of entangled photons. We measured its spectrum, brightness (1.6±0.3)×104 pairs/s/μW, and performed quantum state tomography (QST) to reconstruct the density matrix of the quantum state. Our implementation focuses on an all-fiber solution, which would enable a simplified QKD implementation. In laboratory conditions, we achieved the visibility equal to (0.957 ± 0.004) as a mean in both bases with a coincidence rate of (275 ± 4) counts/s and successfully ran QKD protocol with secret key rate of (86 ± 1) bits/s and average quantum bit error rate (QBER) of (4.8 ± 0.7) %.
This contribution focuses on experimental verification of the QKD system deployment in a multi-domain network environment managed by Czech and Polish National Research and Educational Network (NREN) operators. We demonstrate full functionality of such a solution for transmission of secret keys in boundary conditions, and with this we open up new possibilities for further use of extremely secure communication between two neighboring network entities, and the services built upon it. Moreover, we have shared the cross-border link among strong QKD service channels, accurate time, and classical data channels together with weak quantum channel to reduce the total number of optical fibers needed for transmission. To our knowledge, this is the first shared cross-border QKD transmission in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
National time and frequency dissemination networks are being developed in many countries; also international connections are being established. In the contribution we present Czech Infrastructure for Time and Frequency as a non-commercial, open activity focused on the transfer of accurate time and very stable frequency using optical networks. The national optical infrastructure for time and frequency transfer is operated on top of the CESNET network infrastructure, to have operational cost under control. We also address actually running and planned upgrades and future development plans regarding wavelength bands and considered geographic extensions. We will also focus on creation of bidirectional dark channels on different wavebands within shared fibers together with bidirectional compensation of fiber losses. Single path bidirectional amplification utilizing lumped optical amplifiers is sensitive to feedback from fiber line like back scattering and reflections and in case of increased feedback can produce unwanted oscillations, which potentially interfere with parallel data transmissions. We will also briefly mention the CLONETS-DS project working on design study for coherent Pan-European time and frequency dissemination network, which would connect national networks and provide different services based on time and frequency for a wide range of users.
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