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arXiv:2004.06708 · Physical Review Applied

Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution Over a Long-Distance High-Loss Air-Water Channel

Cheng-Qiu Hu, Zeng-Quan Yan, Jun Gao, Zhan-Ming Li, Heng Zhou, Jian-Peng Dou, Xian-Min Jin

Published Feb 24, 2021• 41 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Atmospheric free space and fiber have been widely exploited as the channels for quantum communication, and have enabled intercontinent and intercity applications. An air-sea free-space channel, being capable of linking the satellite-based quantum resource and underwater vehicle, has now become the last piece of the puzzle in building a global quantum communication network. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of air-water decoy-state quantum key distribution against high loss, meanwhile keeping a low quantum bit error rate less than 2.5% for different distances. We are able to reach a long-distance quantum key distribution in water channel that can enable real-life air-sea quantum-communication tasks. The demonstrated distance, even in coastal water of Jerlov type III, is up to 30 m, about one-order improvement over the proof-in-principle demonstrations in the previous experiments, and the channel loss is equivalent to 345-m-long clean seawater of Jerlov type I, representing a key step forward to practical air-sea secure communication.

DOI
10.1103/physrevapplied.15.024060

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Atmospheric free space and fiber have been widely exploited as the channels for quantum communication, and have enabled intercontinent and intercity applications. An air-sea free-space channel, being capable of linking the satellite-based quantum resource and underwater vehicle, has now become the last piece of the puzzle in building a global quantum communication network. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of air-water decoy-state quantum key distribution against high loss, meanwhile keeping a low quantum bit error rate less than 2.5% for different distances. We are able to reach a long-distance quantum key distribution in water channel that can enable real-life air-sea quantum-communication tasks. The demonstrated distance, even in coastal water of Jerlov type III, is up to 30 m, about one-order improvement over the proof-in-principle demonstrations in the previous experiments, and the channel loss is equivalent to 345-m-long clean seawater of Jerlov type I, representing a key step forward to practical air-sea secure communication.
We demonstrate the underwater quantum key distribution (UWQKD) over a 10.4-meter Jerlov type III seawater channel by building a complete UWQKD system with all-optical transmission of quantum signals, a synchronization signal and a classical communication signal. The wavelength division multiplexing and the space-time-wavelength filtering technology are applied to ensure that the optical signals do not interfere with each other. The system is controlled by FPGA and can be easily integrated into watertight cabins to perform the field experiment. By using the decoy-state BB84 protocol with polarization encoding, we obtain a bit rate of secure keys of 1.82 Kbps and an error rate of 1.55% at the attenuation of 13.26 dB. We prove that the system can tolerate the channel loss up to 23.7 dB and therefore may be used in the 300-meter-long Jerlov type I clean seawater channel.
Polarization encoding quantum key distribution has been proven to be a reliable method to build a secure communication system. It has already been used in an inter-city fiber channel and near-Earth atmosphere channel, leaving an underwater channel the last barrier to conquer. Here we demonstrate a decoy-state BB84 quantum key distribution system over a water channel with a compact system design for future experiments in the ocean. In the system, a multiple-intensity modulated laser module is designed to produce the light pulses of quantum states, including signal state, decoy state, and vacuum state. Classical communication and synchronization are realized by wireless optical transmission. Multiple filtering techniques and wavelength division multiplexing are further used to avoid cross talk of different lights. We test the performance of the system and obtain a final key rate of 245.6 bps with an average quantum bit error rate of 1.91% over a 2.4 m water channel, in which the channel attenuation is 16.35 dB. Numerical simulation shows that the system can tolerate up to 21.7 dB total channel loss and can still generate secure keys in 277.9 m Jerlov type I ocean channel.
Quantum communication has been rapidly developed due to its unconditional security and successfully implemented through optical fibers and free-space air in experiment. To build a complete quantum communication network involving satellites in space and submersibles in ocean, underwater quantum channel has been investigated in both theory and experiment. However, the question of whether the polarization encoded qubit can survive through a long-distance and high-loss underwater channel, which is considered as the restricted area for satellite-borne radio waves, still remains. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the transmission of blue-green photonic polarization states through 55-meter-long water. We prepare six universal quantum states at single photon level and observe their faithful transmission in a large marine test platform. We obtain the complete information of the channel by quantum process tomography. The distance demonstrated in this work reaches a region allowing potential real applications, representing a step further towards air-to-sea quantum communication.
Quantum communication has been rapidly developed due to its unconditional security and successfully implemented through optical fibers and free-space air in experiments. To build a complete quantum communication network involving satellites in space and submersibles in ocean, the underwater quantum channel has been investigated in both theory and experiment. However, the question of whether the polarization encoded qubit can survive through a long-distance and high-loss underwater channel, which is considered as the restricted area for satellite-borne radio waves, still remains. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the transmission of blue-green photonic polarization states through 55-m-long water. We prepare six universal quantum states at the single photon level and observe their faithful transmission in a large marine test platform. We obtain complete information of the channel by quantum process tomography. The distance demonstrated in this work reaches a region allowing potential real applications, representing a step further towards air-to-sea quantum communication.
In recent years, the feasibility of quantum key distribution (QKD) in a water channel has been verified by theory and experiment. Here, we present an experimental investigation of QKD and decoy-state QKD based on the BB84 protocol. The experiment was carried out in a 10 m water tank. The attenuation coefficient of tap water is 0.08/m, which is close to Jerlov Type II seawater. We measured the probability-of-detection matrix of polarization states, and the average fidelity of the four polarization states is up to 98.39%. For the 10 m underwater QKD experiment, 20 MHz optical pulses are generated by modulating the laser diode (LD) and attenuated to an average of 0.1 photons per pulse. The security key rate can reach 563.41 kbits/s and the quantum bit error rate (QBER) is 0.36%. Two decoy states (one of which is the vacuum state) was used in the 10 m underwater decoy-state QKD experiment, and the average QBER of signal state is 0.95%, the security key rate reaches 711.29 kbits/s. According to the parameters of the decoy-state experiment, the maximum secure transmission distance of the underwater decoy-state QKD is predicted to be 19.2 m, while it can be increased to 237.1 m in Jerlov Type I seawater with a lower dark count single photon detector (SPD).
Long-distance quantum channels capable of transferring quantum states faithfully for unconditionally secure quantum communication have been so far confirmed to be feasible in both fiber and free-space air. However, it remains unclear whether seawater, which covers more than 70% of the earth, can also be utilized, leaving global quantum communication incomplete. Here we experimentally demonstrate that polarization quantum states including general qubits of single photon and entangled states can survive well after travelling through seawater. We perform experiments with seawater collected over a range of 36 kilometers in the Yellow Sea. For single photons at 405 nm in a blue-green window, we obtain an average process fidelity above 98%. For entangled photons at 810nm, albeit very high loss, we observe the violation of Bell inequality with 33 standard deviations. Our results confirm the feasibility of a seawater quantum channel, representing the first step towards underwater quantum communication.