Abstract The idea of post-measurement coincidence pairing simplifies substantially long-distance, repeater-like quantum key distribution (QKD) by eliminating the need for tracking the differential phase of the users’ lasers. However, optical frequency tracking remains necessary and can become a severe burden in future deployment of multi-node quantum networks. Here, we resolve this problem by referencing each user’s laser to an absolute frequency standard and demonstrate a practical post-measurement pairing QKD with excellent long-term stability. We confirm the setup’s repeater-like behavior and achieve a finite-size secure key rate (SKR) of 15.94 bit s−1 over 504 km fiber, which overcomes the absolute repeaterless bound by 1.28 times. Over a fiber length 100 km, the setup delivers an impressive SKR of 285.68 kbit s−1. Our work paves the way towards an efficient muti-user quantum network with the local frequency standard.
Abstract The idea of post-measurement coincidence pairing simplifies substantially long-distance, repeater-like quantum key distribution (QKD) by eliminating the need for tracking the differential phase of the users’ lasers. However, optical frequency tracking remains necessary and can become a severe burden in future deployment of multi-node quantum networks. Here, we resolve this problem by referencing each user’s laser to an absolute frequency standard and demonstrate a practical post-measurement pairing QKD with excellent long-term stability. We confirm the setup’s repeater-like behavior and achieve a finite-size secure key rate (SKR) of 15.94 bit s−1 over 504 km fiber, which overcomes the absolute repeaterless bound by 1.28 times. Over a fiber length 100 km, the setup delivers an impressive SKR of 285.68 kbit s−1. Our work paves the way towards an efficient muti-user quantum network with the local frequency standard.
Mode-pairing quantum key distribution (MP-QKD) offers significant potential for long-distance secure communication, benefiting from its quadratic scaling capacity and phase compensation-free characteristic. However, MP-QKD still requires stringent wavelength consistency between remote lasers, which is impractical with commercial lasers without locking. In this work, we develop a simple optical-frequency-comb-based MP-QKD system to simultaneously establish coherence and distribute keys with free-running commercial lasers. We implement the experiment over standard single-mode fiber with a loss coefficient of 0.2 dB/km. The system achieves finite-size secret key rates (SKRs) of 561.26, 113.59, and 10.20 bits per second over 303.37, 354.62, and 404.25 km, which are 1.0267, 2.5230, and 2.1033 times of the rate-loss limit. Besides, the SKR over 202.31 km is 8695.34 bits per second, which is sufficient to support practical cryptographic applications. These results validate the practicality and robustness of our method, offering a simplified yet high-performance framework for long-distance secure communication.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security for communication. The mode-pairing (MP) protocol emerges as a promising solution for long-distance QKD by eliminating the need for a global phase reference while maintaining the repeaterlike rate-loss scaling. Recent implementations have demonstrated its potential, but they either rely on costly ultrastable lasers or struggle with phase fluctuations from commercial lasers, particularly over long distances. As a result, surpassing the repeaterless bound with a practical system remains a challenge. In this work, we demonstrate a practical high-performance MP-QKD system using commercial lasers. To address phase fluctuations, we propose a frequency-tracking scheme based on fast Fourier transformation, enabling us to extend the pairing length to 2 × 10 5 pulses ( 160 μ s ). We propose a model to carefully analyze the phase noise and optimize the system parameters. Our system achieves an optimal secret key rate of 47.8 bit / s over 403 km of standard fiber (76.5 dB loss), exceeding the repeaterless bound by a factor of 2.92. Furthermore, we compare MP-QKD and twin-field QKD under various practical conditions and clarify the distinct application scenarios of the two protocols. These results confirm the feasibility of MP-QKD using cost-effective commercial technologies, paving the way for scalable quantum communication networks.
Secure key rate (SKR) of point-point quantum key distribution (QKD) is fundamentally bounded by the rate-loss limit. Recent breakthrough of twin-field (TF) QKD can overcome this limit and enables long distance quantum communication, but its implementation necessitates complex global phase tracking and requires strong phase references that not only add to noise but also reduce the duty cycle for quantum transmission. Here, we resolve these shortcomings, and importantly achieve even higher SKRs than TF-QKD, via implementing an innovative but simpler measurement-device-independent QKD that realizes repeaterlike communication through asynchronous coincidence pairing. Over 413 and 508 km optical fibers, we achieve finite-size SKRs of 590.61 and 42.64 bit/s, which are respectively 1.80 and 4.08 times of their corresponding absolute rate limits. Significantly, the SKR at 306 km exceeds 5 kbit/s and meets the bitrate requirement for live one-time-pad encryption of voice communication. Our work will bring forward economical and efficient intercity quantum-secure networks.
Owing to its repeater-like rate-loss scaling, twin-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD) has repeatedly exhibited in laboratory its superiority for secure communication over record fiber lengths. Field trials pose a new set of challenges however, which must be addressed before the technology's roll-out into real-world. Here, we verify in field the viability of using independent optical frequency combs -- installed at sites separated by a straight-line distance of 300~km -- to achieve a versatile TF-QKD setup that has no need for optical frequency dissemination and thus enables an open and network-friendly fiber configuration. Over 546 and 603 km symmetric links, we record a finite-size secure key rate (SKR) of 0.53~bit/s and an asymptotic SKR of 0.12 bit/s, respectively. Of practical importance, the setup is demonstrated to support 44~km fiber asymmetry in the 452 km link. Our work marks an important step towards incorporation of long-haul fiber links into large quantum networks.
In the realm of long-distance quantum communication, asynchronous measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (AMDI-QKD) stands out for its experimental simplicity and high key rate generation. Despite these advantages, there exists a challenge in finding a balance between simplifying the laser system further and achieving high key rates. To address this challenge, we have devised a postmeasurement compensation scheme to accurately estimate the mutual frequency offset between two compact lasers using just the announced quantum-signal detection results, thereby obviating the need for optical reference light. As a result, we demonstrate an AMDI-QKD system operating at 2.5 GHz and achieving secure key rates (SKRs) of 537 and 101 kbit / s at distances of 100 and 201 km, respectively, showcasing a significant key rate improvement compared to similar setups. By leveraging ultrastable lasers, we achieve the highest SKRs with measurement-device-independent security within the 100–400-km range. Over 100 km, we reach a remarkable key rate of 1.03 Mbit / s , which could enable real-time one-time-pad video encryption. These findings render AMDI-QKD as a promising contender for the establishment of high performance and cost-effective large-scale intercity quantum networks.
Twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) has rapidly risen as the most viable solution to long-distance secure fibre communication thanks to its fundamentally repeater-like rate-loss scaling. However, its implementation complexity, if not successfully addressed, could impede or even prevent its advance into real-world. To satisfy its requirement for twin-field coherence, all present setups adopted essentially a gigantic, resource-inefficient interferometer structure that lacks scalability that mature QKD systems provide with simplex quantum links. Here we introduce a technique that can stabilise an open channel without using a closed interferometer and has general applicability to phase-sensitive quantum communications. Using locally generated frequency combs to establish mutual coherence, we develop a simple and versatile TF-QKD setup that does not need service fibre and can operate over links of 100 km asymmetry. We confirm the setup's repeater-like behaviour and obtain a finite-size rate of 0.32 bit/s at a distance of 615.6 km.