Efficient room-temperature molecular single-photon sources for quantum key distribution
Ghülam Murtaza, Maja Colautti, Michael Hilke, Pietro Lombardi, F. S. Cataliotti, Alessandro Zavatta, Davide Bacco, Costanza Toninelli
Abstract
Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows the distribution of cryptographic keys between multiple users in an information-theoretic secure way, exploiting quantum physics. While current QKD systems are mainly based on attenuated laser pulses, deterministic single-photon sources could give concrete advantages in terms of secret key rate (SKR) and security owing to the negligible probability of multi-photon events. Here, we introduce and demonstrate a proof-of-concept QKD system exploiting a molecule-based single-photon source operating at room temperature and emitting at 785 nm. With an estimated maximum SKR of 0.5 Mbps, our solution paves the way for room-temperature single-photon sources for quantum communication protocols.