Integrated Photonics for Quantum Communication on a Cubesat

The limited range of quantum key distribution (QKD) in fiber based systems led to several projects aiming for the development of a satellite based QKD infrastructure, like the conduction of quantum limited measurements from a geostationary satellite [1] or the MICIUS mission, which impressively demonstrated QKD on a global scale [2]. However, due to the high costs of satellite launches the profitability of commercial systems would benefit dramatically from further reduction in size, weight and power. Photonic integration [3] addresses these points by allowing the integration of all optical components of a QKD system on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). In this work, we are going to demonstrate building blocks for quantum communication from space based on photonic integration technology by building a payload for the CubeSat mission QUBE [4] consisting of an integrated sender for weak coherent states as well as an integrated Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG).