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arXiv:2411.13943

Independent Optical Frequency Combs Powered 546 km Field Test of Twin-Field Quantum Key Distribution

Lai Zhou, Jinping Lin, Ge, Chengfang, Yuanbin Fan, Zhiliang L. Yuan, Hao Dong, Yang Liu, Di Ma, Jiu-Peng Chen, Cong Jiang, Xiang‐Bin Wang, Lixing You, Qiang Zhang, Jian-Wei Pan

Published Nov 21, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2411.13943

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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 300km -- 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 0.53bit/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.
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.
Twin-field quantum key distribution exploits single-photon interference to provide long-haul secure communication. However, real-time phase tracking between optical signals sent from opposite ends of the communication link is necessary to realize this scheme. Here the authors show that it is feasible to apply independent optical frequency combs in a quantum communication field trial, using a coherent dual-band stabilization technique. A practical finite-size-secure-key rate of 0.53 bit/s is recorded over a 546-km link connecting two major cities in China. This study represents a significant setup toward the integration of long-distance fiber links into quantum networks.
Quantum key distribution endows people with information-theoretical security in communications. Twin-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD) has attracted considerable attention because of its outstanding key rates over long distances. Recently, several demonstrations of TF-QKD have been realized. Nevertheless, those experiments are implemented in the laboratory, and therefore a critical question remains about whether the TF-QKD is feasible in real-world circumstances. Here, by adopting the sending-or-not-sending twin-field QKD (SNS-TF-QKD) with the method of actively odd parity pairing (AOPP), we demonstrate a field-test QKD over 428 km of deployed commercial fiber and two users are physically separated by about 300 km in a straight line. To this end, we explicitly measure the relevant properties of the deployed fiber and develop a carefully designed system with high stability. The secure key rate we achieved breaks the absolute key rate limit of repeaterless QKD. The result provides a new distance record for the field test of both TF-QKD and all types of fiber-based QKD systems. Our work bridges the gap of QKD between laboratory demonstrations and practical applications and paves the way for an intercity QKD network with measurement-device-independent security.
Twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) promises high key rates over long distances to beat the rate-distance limit. Here, applying the sending-or-not-sending TF QKD protocol, we experimentally demonstrate a secure key distribution that breaks the absolute key-rate limit of repeaterless QKD over a 509-km-long ultralow loss optical fiber. Two independent lasers are used as sources with remote-frequency-locking technique over the 500-km fiber distance. Practical optical fibers are used as the optical path with appropriate noise filtering; and finite-key effects are considered in the key-rate analysis. The secure key rate obtained at 509 km is more than seven times higher than the relative bound of repeaterless QKD for the same detection loss. The achieved secure key rate is also higher than that of a traditional QKD protocol running with a perfect repeaterless QKD device, even for an infinite number of sent pulses. Our result shows that the protocol and technologies applied in this experiment enable TF QKD to achieve a high secure key rate over a long distribution distance, and is therefore practically useful for field implementation of intercity QKD.
Twin-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD) dramatically enhances the secure key rate (SKR) over inter-city distances through its square-root scaling. Further improvements in aggregate SKR can be achieved by wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) of parallel QKD channels. However, direct implementation in TF-QKD poses significant challenges, as each wavelength channel requires an independent ultra-stable seed laser, narrow-linewidth transmitters, and optical phase-locked loops (OPLLs), which are not easily scalable. Here, we circumvent these limitations by employing two independent, integrated dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) microcombs at Alice and Bob as multi-wavelength sources. High-visibility single-photon interference across all wavelength channels is achieved by stabilizing the frequencies of every comb line - requiring only the stabilization of the pump wavelength and repetition rates of the two microcombs. Based on this architecture, we perform a full TF-QKD experiment using the sending-or-not-sending protocol, achieving a total SKR of 1.57 Mbps over 201.1 km of fiber using 16 DWDM channels. This result represents more than an order-of-magnitude enhancement compared with single-wavelength TF-QKD at the same distance. Given that a single DKS comb can support over 100 coherent lines across the C-band, this approach offers a scalable pathway toward high-rate quantum key distribution over inter-city distances.
Abstract The basic principle of quantum mechanics guarantee the unconditional security of quantum key distribution (QKD) at the cost of inability of amplification of quantum state. As a result, despite remarkable progress in worldwide metropolitan QKD networks over the past decades, long haul fiber QKD network without trustful relay has not been achieved yet. Here, through sending-or-not-sending (SNS) protocol, we complete a twin field QKD (TF-QKD) and distribute secure keys without any trusted repeater over a 511 km long haul fiber trunk linking two distant metropolitans. Our secure key rate is around 3 orders of magnitudes greater than what is expected if the previous QKD field test system over the same length were applied. The efficient quantum-state transmission and stable single-photon interference over such a long distance deployed fiber paves the way to large-scale fiber quantum networks.