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arXiv:2601.06772 · Science Advances

Experimental Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution with Simplicity and Practical Security

Xiao-Yu Cao, Xiao-Ran Sun, Ming-Yang Li, Yu-Shuo Lu, Hua-Lei Yin, Zeng-Bing Chen

quant-phSubmitted Jan 11, 2026• Announced Jan 13, 2026• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Coherent one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD) has been widely investigated, and even been deployed in real-world quantum network. However, the proposal of the zero-error attack has critically undermined its security guarantees, and existing experimental implementations have not yet established security against coherent attacks. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an information-theoretically secure COW-QKD protocol that can resist source side-channel attacks, with secure transmission distances up to 100 km. Our system achieves a secure key rate on the order of kilobits per second over 50 km in the finite-size regime, sufficient for real-time secure voice communication across metropolitan networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate the encrypted transmission of a logo with information-theoretic security over 100 km of optical fiber. These results confirm that COW-QKD can simultaneously provide simplicity and security, establishing it as a strong candidate for deployment in small-scale quantum networks.

Journal reference
Sci. Adv. 12, eaec2776 (2026)
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aec2776
Comments
12pages, 3 figures, 4 tables

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Coherent one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD) has been widely investigated, and even been deployed in real-world quantum network. However, the proposal of the zero-error attack has critically undermined its security guarantees, and existing experimental implementations have not yet established security against coherent attacks. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an information-theoretically secure COW-QKD protocol that can resist source side-channel attacks, with secure transmission distances up to 100 km. Our system achieves a secure key rate on the order of kilobits per second over 50 km in the finite-size regime, sufficient for real-time secure voice communication across metropolitan networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate the encrypted transmission of a logo with information-theoretic security over 100 km of optical fiber. These results confirm that COW-QKD can simultaneously provide simplicity and security, establishing it as a strong candidate for deployment in small-scale quantum networks.
Coherent-one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD), which requires a simple experimental setup and has the ability to withstand photon-number-splitting attacks, has been not only experimentally implemented but also commercially applied. However, recent studies have shown that the current COW-QKD system is insecure and can only distribute secret keys safely within 20 km of the optical fiber length. In this study, we propose a practical implementation of COW-QKD by adding a two-pulse vacuum state as a new decoy sequence. This proposal maintains the original experimental setup as well as the simplicity of its implementation. Utilizing detailed observations on the monitoring line to provide an analytical upper bound on the phase error rate, we provide a high-performance COW-QKD asymptotically secure against coherent attacks. This ensures the availability of COW-QKD within 100 km and establishes theoretical foundations for further applications.
Abstract It’s well known that many of the traditional cryptographic schemes (like RSA and DH) will be vulnerable when scalable quantum computers will be available. However, quantum cryptographic protocols can provide unconditional security. One such protocol for unconditionally secure quantum key distribution (QKD) is coherent one way (COW) protocol. In the present work, we report experimental realization of an optical fiber based COW protocol for QKD in the telecom wavelength (1550 nm) where the attenuation in the optical fiber is minimum. A laser of 1550 nm wavelength, attenuator and intensity modulator is used for the generation of pulses having average photon number 0.5 and repetition rate of 500 MHz. The experiment is performed over 40 km, 80 km and 120 km of optical fiber and several experimental parameters like disclose rate, compression ratio, dead time and excess bias voltage of the detector are varied for all the cases (i.e., for 40 km, 80 km and 120 km distances) to observe their impact on the final key rate. Specifically, It is observed that there is a linear increase in the key rate as we decrease compression ratio or disclose rate. The key rate obtains its maximum value for least permitted values of disclose rate, compression ratio and dead time. It seems to remain stable for various values of excess bias voltage. While changing various parameters, we have maintained the quantum bit error rate (QBER) below 6% (5%) for distance ≥ 120 km (≤ 120 km). The key rate obtained is also found to remain stable over time. Experimental results obtained here are also compared with the earlier realizations of the COW QKD protocol. Further, to emulate key rate at intermediate distances and at a distance larger than 120 km, an attenuator of 5 dB loss is used which can be treated as equivalent to ∼ 25 km of the optical fiber used in the present implementation. This has made the present implementation equivalent to the realization of COW QKD upto ∼ 145 km.
Coherent-one-way (COW) quantum key distribution (QKD) is a significant communication protocol that has been implemented experimentally and deployed in practical products due to its simple equipment requirements. However, existing security analyses of COW-QKD either provide a short transmission distance or lack immunity against coherent attacks in the finite-key regime. In this paper, we present a tight finite-key security analysis within the universally composable framework for a variant of COW-QKD, which has been proven to extend the secure transmission distance in the asymptotic case. We combine the quantum leftover hash lemma and entropic uncertainty relation to derive the key rate formula. When estimating statistical parameters, we use the recently proposed Kato's inequality to ensure security against coherent attacks and achieve a higher key rate. Our paper confirms the security and feasibility of COW-QKD for practical application and lays the foundation for further theoretical study and experimental implementation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
An experimental implementation of the Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution (COW-QKD) protocol is reported under realistic conditions, and a clean and easy-to-use framework for performing finite key analysis of the COW-QKD protocol is provided by extending a set of existing results. The framework provided here is used to perform finite key rate analysis of the COW-QKD protocol with respect to the actual parameters used in the experimental realization reported here. The system is kept running for several hours with different experimental parameters and stable secure key rates between 1.2 to 1.6 kbps are observed. In addition, QBER, phase error rate and secure key rate are obtained under finite key analysis, and it is shown that COW-QKD is secure for medium-range transmissions (up-to ~ 156 (171) km of optical fiber with 0.2 dB loss per km if detector efficiency is 0.1 (0.2) and other parameters are same as those used in this experiment).
Coherent One-Way (COW) is a simple and widely utilized quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, favored in both experimental and commercial applications. In this paper, we compare the information that an eavesdropper, Eve, can acquire in both the 2-decoy and 1-decoy COW protocols. Our findings demonstrate that the 2-decoy protocol offers enhanced security compared to the original 1-decoy COW, all while preserving the simplicity of implementation. Furthermore, we have experimentally implemented the improved security COW-QKD (2-decoy protocol), achieving a secure key rate exceeding 0.5 kbps over a distance of 110 km (22 dB loss) in optical fiber, with an interference visibility greater than 80%. We also emphasize that monitoring the click rates of the data line detector for each state individually serves as a powerful method for detecting zero-error attacks.
The performance of quantum key distribution (QKD) is severely limited by multiphoton pulses emitted by laser sources due to the photon-number splitting attack. Coherent-one-way (COW) QKD has been introduced as a promising solution to overcome this limitation, and thus extend the achievable distance of practical QKD. Indeed, thanks to its experimental simplicity, the COW protocol is already used in commercial applications. Here, we derive simple upper security bounds on its secret key rate, which demonstrate that it scales at most quadratically with the system's transmittance, thus solving a long-standing problem. That is, in contrast to what has been claimed, this approach is inappropriate for long-distance QKD transmission. Remarkably, our findings imply that all implementations of the COW protocol performed so far are insecure.