ABSTRACT State‐of‐the‐art free‐space continuous‐variable quantum key distribution (CV‐QKD) protocols use phase reference pulses to modulate the wavefront of a real local oscillator at the receiver, thereby compensating for wavefront distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence. It is normally assumed that the wavefront distortion in the phase reference pulses is identical to the wavefront distortion in the quantum signals, which are multiplexed during transmission. However, in real‐world deployments, there can exist a relative wavefront error (WFE) between the reference pulses and quantum signals, which, among other deleterious effects, can severely limit secure key transfer in satellite‐to‐Earth CV‐QKD. In this work, we introduce machine learning‐based wavefront correction algorithms, which utilize multi‐plane light conversion for decomposition of the reference pulses and quantum signals into the Hermite‐Gaussian (HG) basis, then estimate the difference in HG mode phase measurements. Through detailed simulations of the Earth‐satellite channel, we demonstrate that our algorithm can identify and compensate for any relative WFEs that may exist. We quantify the gains available in our algorithm in terms of the CV‐QKD secure key rate. We show channels where positive secure key rates are obtained using our algorithms, while information loss without wavefront correction would result in null key rates.
Long et al. (Sun,) studied this question.