Continuous variable quantum key distribution channel emulator for the SPOQC mission
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.23510 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 26 Feb 2026] Title:Continuous variable quantum key distribution channel emulator for the SPOQC mission Authors:Emma Tien Hwai Medlock, Vinod N. Rao, Ry Render, Timothy Spiller, Rupesh Kumar View a PDF of the paper titled Continuous variable quantum key distribution channel emulator for the SPOQC mission, by Emma Tien Hwai Medlock and 4 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:In a free space optical (FSO) communication link from satellite to ground, the losses in the channel will be dynamic. Thus, the characterization of the FSO channel is of great importance and this can be emulated in the lab to evaluate the realistic performance of a satellite payload. In this work, we introduce a novel optical channel emulator capable of replicating these dynamics, especially for Low Earth Orbit based CubeSats. We demonstrate its ability to accurately emulate a satellite-to-ground optical communications channel under various atmospheric turbulence strengths, satellite trajectories, and optical ground station parameters at a given optical wavelength of interest. Our satellite channel emulator was designed to test and benchmark the performance of the continuous variable quantum key distribution payload for the Satellite Platform for Optical Quantum Communications mission - an in-orbit demonstrator for the UK's Quantum Communication Hub, to be launched in early 2026. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2602.23510 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.23510v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.23510 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Journal reference: Optica Quantum Vol. 4, Issue 1, pp. 73-81 (2026) Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICAQ.578614 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Vinod N. Rao [view email] [v1] Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:28:10 UTC (759 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Continuous variable quantum key distribution channel emulator for the SPOQC mission, by Emma Tien Hwai Medlock and 4 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source 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?)