Co-Propagation of Quantum Time Synchronization and Optical Frequency Transfer over a 122 km Hollow-Core Fiber
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.19013 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 22 Feb 2026] Title:Co-Propagation of Quantum Time Synchronization and Optical Frequency Transfer over a 122 km Hollow-Core Fiber Authors:Huibo Hong, Xiao Xiang, Runai Quan, Rongduo Lu, Qian Zhou, Dawei Ge, Liuyan Han, Bo Liu, Ru Yuan, Dechao Zhang, Yuting Liu, Bingke Shi, ZhiGuang Xia, Xinghua Li, Mingtao Cao, Tao Liu, Ruifang Dong, Shougang Zhang View a PDF of the paper titled Co-Propagation of Quantum Time Synchronization and Optical Frequency Transfer over a 122 km Hollow-Core Fiber, by Huibo Hong and 16 other authors View PDF Abstract:The co-propagation of quantum and classical signals through shared optical fibers is crucial for scalable quantum networks. However, this coexistence is fundamentally limited by spontaneous Raman scattering (SpRS) from the bright classical light, which generates overwhelming noise that disrupts the single-photon-level quantum signals. Here, we overcome this long-standing challenge by leveraging the inherently ultralow nonlinearity of hollow-core fiber (HCF) to suppress SpRS noise. By operating both the quantum time synchronization (QTS) and classical optical frequency transfer (OFT) signals within the telecom C-band, separated by only ~10 nm, we successfully demonstrate their simultaneous transmission over a 122-km HCF link. With a classical OFT power of 1 mW, the QTS performance shows negligible degradation, maintaining sub-picosecond time stability at 2000 s, while the OFT achieves a fractional frequency instability of 10^-20. Near-sub-picosecond QTS stability is preserved even when the classical power is increased to 3 mW. Furthermore, simulations based on our experimental data indicate that with next-generation low-loss HCF, the platform can tolerate classical powers beyond 10 mW and extend the QTS range to over 500 km. By realizing a unified quantum-classical time-frequency distribution framework, this work establishes HCF as a highly capable and practical platform for future scalable quantum networks. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2602.19013 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.19013v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.19013 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Huibo Hong [view email] [v1] Sun, 22 Feb 2026 02:59:32 UTC (846 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Co-Propagation of Quantum Time Synchronization and Optical Frequency Transfer over a 122 km Hollow-Core Fiber, by Huibo Hong and 16 other authorsView PDF view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)