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arXiv:1810.00408 · Physical Review A

Free-space continuous-variable quantum key distribution of unidimensional Gaussian modulation using polarized coherent states in an urban environment

Shi-Yang Shen, Mingwei Dai, Xue-Tao Zheng, Sun Qi-yao, Guang‐Can Guo, Zheng‐Fu Han

Published Jul 16, 2019• 52 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

An experiment evaluating continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) in an urban environment free-space channel has been accomplished using a single homodyne detector. This is based on Gaussian modulation with coherent states in the polarization degree of freedom. We achieved a QKD distance at 460 m at a repetition rate of 10 kHz. The secure key rate is 0.152 kbps at the typical reconciliation efficiency of 0.95. The experimental setup of this scheme is simplified, and the barrier for implementation has been remarkably reduced compared to that for traditional symmetric modulation protocols, for example, the GG02 protocol proposed in F. Grosshans and P. Grangier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 057902 (2002)]. The influence of the security key rate by asymmetric modulation is small for a relatively low channel loss condition in a free-space environment. This scheme is expected to have significance for future practical applications.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.100.012325

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An experiment evaluating continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) in an urban environment free-space channel has been accomplished using a single homodyne detector. This is based on Gaussian modulation with coherent states in the polarization degree of freedom. We achieved a QKD distance at 460 m at a repetition rate of 10 kHz. The secure key rate is 0.152 kbps at the typical reconciliation efficiency of 0.95. The experimental setup of this scheme is simplified, and the barrier for implementation has been remarkably reduced compared to that for traditional symmetric modulation protocols, for example, the GG02 protocol proposed in F. Grosshans and P. Grangier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 057902 (2002)]. The influence of the security key rate by asymmetric modulation is small for a relatively low channel loss condition in a free-space environment. This scheme is expected to have significance for future practical applications.
Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), which uses quadratures of the electromagnetic field, enables practical quantum communication using standard telecommunication technologies. Unidimensional CV-QKD (UD-CVQKD) simplifies the implementation by restricting modulation to a single quadrature. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a free-space Gaussian-modulated UD-CVQKD system operating under a high detector electronic-noise regime (1.4 shot-noise units). The system employs polarized coherent states with signal and local oscillator co-propagating in the same spatial mode in orthogonal polarizations, ensuring stable interference. System security is analyzed under both untrusted (UTD) and trusted (TD) detector noise models. While no positive secret key rate is obtained under the UTD model, the TD model enables secure key generation over a finite range of modulation variances, highlighting the critical role of detector trust in high-noise conditions. A maximum secret key rate of 270 kbps is achieved at an optimal modulation variance of 11.57. Furthermore, secure operation requires high-transmittance (low-loss) channels under such noise conditions. This study demonstrates the practical feasibility of free-space UD-CVQKD in realistic high electronic-noise detection constraints and highlights detector electronic noise as a key limiting factor in practical systems.
We propose the continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol based on the Gaussian modulation of a single quadrature of the coherent states of light, which is aimed to provide simplified implementation compared to the symmetrically modulated Gaussian coherent-state protocols. The protocol waives the necessity in one of the quadrature modulations and the corresponding channel transmittance estimation. The security of the protocol against collective attacks in a generally phase-sensitive Gaussian channel is analyzed and is shown achievable upon certain conditions. Robustness of the protocol to channel imperfections is compared to that of the symmetrical coherent-state protocol. The simplified unidimensional protocol is shown possible at a reasonable quantitative cost in terms of key rate and of tolerable channel excess noise.
We experimentally demonstrated an all-fiber-based unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) protocol and analyzed its security under collective attack in realistic conditions. A pulsed balanced homodyne detector, which could not be accessed by eavesdroppers, with phase-insensitive efficiency and electronic noise, was considered. Furthermore, a modulation method and an improved relative phase-locking technique with one amplitude modulator and one phase modulator were designed. The relative phase could be locked precisely with a standard deviation of 0.5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} and a mean of almost zero. Secret key bit rates of 5.4 kbps and 700 bps were achieved for transmission fiber lengths of 30 and 50 km, respectively. The protocol, which simplified the CV QKD system and reduced the cost, displayed a performance comparable to that of a symmetrical counterpart under realistic conditions. It is expected that the developed protocol can facilitate the practical application of the CV QKD.
In free space channel, continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) using polarized coherent-states can not only make the signal state more stable and less susceptible to interference based on the polarization non-sensitive of the free-space channel, but also reduce the noise introduced by phase interference. However, arbitrary continuous modulation can not be carried out in the past polarization coding, resulting in that the signal state can not obtain arbitrary continuous value in Poincare space, and the security analysis of CV-QKD using polarized coherent-states in free space is not complete. Here we propose a new modulation method to extend the modulation range of signal states with an optical-fiber-based polarization controller. In particular, in terms of the main influence factors in the free-space channel, we utilize the beam extinction and elliptical model when considering the transmittance and adopt the formulation of secret key rate. In addition, the performance of the proposed scheme under foggy weather is also taken into consideration to reveal the influence of severe weather. Numerical simulation shows that the proposed scheme is seriously affected by attenuation under foggy weather. The protocol fails when visibility is less than 1 km. At the same time, the wavelength can affect the performance of the proposed scheme. Specifically, under foggy weather, the longer the wavelength, the smaller the attenuation coefficient, and the better the transmission performance. Our proposed scheme can expand the modulation range of signal state, and supplement the security research of the scheme in the free-space channel, thus can provide theoretical support for subsequent experiments.
Continuous-variable (CV) quantum key distribution (QKD) allows for quantum secure communication with the benefit of being close to classical coherent communication. In recent years, CV QKD protocols using a discrete number of displaced coherent states have been studied intensively as the modulation can be directly implemented with real devices with finite resolution. Until now, experiments only calculated key rates in the asymptotic regime. Here, we present a CV QKD system using discrete modulation that is especially designed for atmospheric channels. We use polarization encoding to exploit the nonbirefringent nature of the turbulent atmosphere. This allows to expand CV QKD networks beyond the existing fiber backbone. In a laboratory demonstration with a static 3-decibel loss channel, we implemented a recently developed security proof allowing to calculate composable finite-size key rates against independently and identically distributed collective attacks. We applied the full QKD protocol including a quantum random number generator, error correction, and privacy amplification to extract secret keys.
Most continuous-variable quantum key distribution schemes are based on the Gaussian modulation of coherent states followed by continuous quadrature detection using homodyne detectors. In all previous schemes, the Gaussian modulation has been carried out in conjugate quadratures thus requiring two independent modulators for their implementations. Here, we propose and experimentally test a largely simplified scheme in which the Gaussian modulation is performed in a single quadrature. The scheme is shown to be asymptotically secure against collective attacks, and considers a specific attack using asymmetric preparation and excess noise. We find that this protocol is considerably more sensitive to noise than other CVQKD schemes, as a consequence of the simplified implementation. A single-quadrature modulation approach renders the need for a costly amplitude modulator unnecessary, and thus facilitates commercialization of continuous-variable quantum key distribution, provided that the low noise requirement can be achieved.