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arXiv:1609.02648 · Physical Review A

Experimental asymmetric plug-and-play measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Guang‐Zhao Tang, Shi‐Hai Sun, Feihu Xu, Huan Chen, Chunyan Li, Lin-Mei Liang

Published Sep 27, 2016• 30 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is immune to all security loopholes on detection. Previous experiments on MDI-QKD required spatially separated signal lasers and complicated stabilization systems. In this paper, we perform a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of plug-and-play MDI-QKD over an asymmetric channel setting with a single signal laser in which the whole system is automatically stabilized in spectrum, polarization, arrival time, and phase reference. Both the signal laser and the single-photon detectors are in the possession of a common server. A passive timing-calibration technique is applied to ensure the precise and stable overlap of signal pulses. The results pave the way for the realization of a quantum network in which the users only need the encoding devices.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.94.032326

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Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is immune to all security loopholes on detection. Previous experiments on MDI-QKD required spatially separated signal lasers and complicated stabilization systems. In this paper, we perform a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of plug-and-play MDI-QKD over an asymmetric channel setting with a single signal laser in which the whole system is automatically stabilized in spectrum, polarization, arrival time, and phase reference. Both the signal laser and the single-photon detectors are in the possession of a common server. A passive timing-calibration technique is applied to ensure the precise and stable overlap of signal pulses. The results pave the way for the realization of a quantum network in which the users only need the encoding devices.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) offers a practical way to realize a star-type quantum network. Previous experiments on MDI-QKD networks can only support the point-to-point communication. We experimentally demonstrate a plug-and-play MDI-QKD network which can support the point-to-multipoint communication among three users. Benefiting from the plug-and-play MDI-QKD architecture, the whole network is automatically stabilized in spectrum, polarization, arrival time, and phase reference. The users only need the encoding devices, which means that the hardware requirements are greatly reduced. Our experiment shows that it is feasible to establish a point-to-multipoint MDI-QKD network.
We demonstrate the first implementation of polarization encoding measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), which is immune to all detector side-channel attacks. Active phase randomization of each individual pulse is implemented to protect against attacks on imperfect sources. By optimizing the parameters in the decoy state protocol, we show that it is feasible to implement polarization encoding MDI-QKD with commercial off-the-shelf devices. A rigorous finite key analysis is applied to estimate the secure key rate. Our work paves the way for the realization of a MDI-QKD network, in which the users only need compact and low-cost state-preparation devices and can share complicated and expensive detectors provided by an untrusted network server.
We have implemented a practical plug-and-play measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI QKD) system with polarization division multiplexing (PDM). MDI QKD is known as a secure protocol that can inherently prevent detection loopholes. Significant efforts have been made toward implementing MDI QKD systems. Recently, a plug-and-play architecture has been proposed for implementing the MDI QKD system, and its feasibility has been experimentally verified in both free space and fiber channel. However, in order to apply it to the real world, it is necessary to develop a more practical architecture including multiplexing methods and self-compensation techniques. In this paper, we have proposed and implemented a practical plug-and-play MDI QKD architecture that can be implemented regardless of whether the quantum channel lengths of Alice and Bob are symmetric or asymmetric using PDM and can be operated even under ambient-temperature-changing environments through an optical path-length self-compensation technique. Experimentally, we have achieved6.25×10−66.25\times 10^{-6}6.25×10−6bits per pulse as the key rate and the quantum bit error rates under 3% on 25-km quantum channels.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) guarantees unconditional communication security based on the laws of quantum physics. However, practical QKD suffers from a number of quantum hackings due to the device imperfections. From the security standpoint, measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is in the limelight since it eliminates all the possible loopholes in detection. Due to active control units for mode matching between the photons from remote parties, however, the implementation of MDI-QKD is highly impractical. In this paper, we propose a method to resolve the mode matching problem while minimizing the use of active control units. By introducing the plug-and-play (P) concept into MDI-QKD, the indistinguishability in spectral and polarization modes between photons can naturally be guaranteed. We show the feasibility of P MDI-QKD with a proof-of-principle experiment.
Abstract Measurement-device-independent quantum digital signature (MDI-QDS) guarantees the authenticity and integrity of a message with security against all detector side-channel attacks. However, the experimental implementation of MDI-QDS in actual systems is extremely complicated since: (i) high-visibility interference requires several additional active control units for mode matching; (ii) a key assumption in MDI-QDS is that the laser source located at each user should be trusted. In this work, we propose a plug-and-play MDI-QDS scheme with a single untrusted source. On the one hand, it completely eliminates the requirement that each user must have a trusted laser source, and only needs to set an untrusted source at the Relay. On the other hand, the mode matching of MDI-QDS can be realized automatically with a plug-and-play structure. We then discuss the performance of the scheme by using the two-intensity decoy-state method with full parameter optimization. The numerical simulations show that the plug-and-play MDI-QDS with a single untrusted source provides comparable performances to the original MDI-QDS in a low-loss regime but with a simpler experimental setup. Consequently, the scheme can be flexibly implemented with common optical components in an optical fiber network since users can share both detectors and a complicated laser source.