To study the long-distance free-space quantum communication links, we simulated, designed, and built a well characterized atmospheric turbulence simulator (ATS) with the Fried parameter and scintillation index ranging from weak to strong turbulence regimes. The ATS was integrated with a non-turbulent path to conduct quantum interferometric experiments such as the heralded single photon g^2 (τ) measurement, and Hong-Ou-Mandel measurements are in progress. We observed that g^2 (0) for heralded photon increased to 1 with moderate turbulence. A significant effect of strong turbulence is expected on the biphoton HOM interference with one photon propagating through free space and the other through the ATS.
To study the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the quality of entanglement of photons propagating from a ground station to a satellite and to verify if coincidence measurements of entangled photons can be used to back out atmospheric turbulence parameters for long-distance propagation or moderate-to-strong turbulence , we built an atmospheric turbulence simulator (ATS) in a laboratory setting. The ATS comprised of two afocal systems with a Lexitek phase wheel and a Meadowlark spatial light modulator representing discrete layers of atmospheric turbulence. The ATS could represent propagation distances on the order of 1km and could theoretically simulate Rytov variances as high as 5.16 and Fried parameters as low as 0.5cm for a 1m telescope. The design parameters, numerical simulations, and experimental setup is detailed in this proceeding.
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