Thermo-mechanical design for a miniaturized quantum light source on board the SpooQy-1 CubeSat

Huai Ying Lim; Tom Vergoossen; Robert Bedington; Xueliang Bai; Aitor Villar; Alexander Lohrmann; Nguyen Hong Nhung; Simon Barraclough; Jai Vennik; Douglas Griffin; Alexander Ling

arXiv · 2006.14442

Thermo-mechanical design for a miniaturized quantum light source on board the SpooQy-1 CubeSat

Huai Ying Lim·Tom Vergoossen·Robert Bedington·Xueliang Bai·Aitor Villar·Alexander Lohrmann·Nguyen Hong Nhung·Simon Barraclough·Jai Vennik·Douglas Griffin·Alexander Ling

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Abstract

This paper presents the thermo-mechanical design of the quantum light source on board SpooQy-1, a 3U CubeSat that was deployed from the International Space Station on 17th June 2019. SpooQy-1 is a technology demonstrator for space-based quantum networks. The on-board light source generates and detects polarization-entangled photon pairs to validate its in-orbit performance. Entangled photons are generated using spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) necessitating stringent dimensional stability and temperature requirements. Under laboratory conditions these requirements are routinely met using off-the-shelf laboratory mounts and alignment mechanisms. However, when facing harsh environments such as the vibration during rocket launch or temperature changes due to fluctuating illumination conditions, custom thermo-mechanical solutions are required. In this work, the development and in-orbit demonstration of an isostatic payload mount is discussed. This mounting approach enables future space missions with quantum instruments on resource-constrained CubeSat platforms with limited thermal control capabilities.

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Huai Ying Lim, Tom Vergoossen, Robert Bedington, Xueliang Bai, Aitor Villar, Alexander Lohrmann, Nguyen Hong Nhung, Simon Barraclough, Jai Vennik, Douglas Griffin, Alexander Ling. 2020-06-25. Thermo-mechanical design for a miniaturized quantum light source on board the SpooQy-1 CubeSat. https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.14442

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