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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Dual detectors scheme in practical quantum key distribution systems

Bing Qi, Yibo Zhao, Xiongfeng Ma, Hoi-Kwong Lo, Li Qian

Published Jun 1, 2007• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

In this study, a "dual detectors" method is proposed to overcome the limitation imposed by the speed-noise trade-off and improve the performance of a practical quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on realistic detectors. The "dual detectors" scheme can be employed to improve the performance of a Gaussian-modulated coherent states (GMCS) QKD system based on realistic homodyne detectors, as in the case of BB84 protocol. With the "dual detectors" method, we see a significant improvement of the key rate (more than one order of magnitude) at a relatively short distance (up to 5 km).

DOI
10.1109/cleoe-iqec.2007.4387020

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In this study, a "dual detectors" method is proposed to overcome the limitation imposed by the speed-noise trade-off and improve the performance of a practical quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on realistic detectors. The "dual detectors" scheme can be employed to improve the performance of a Gaussian-modulated coherent states (GMCS) QKD system based on realistic homodyne detectors, as in the case of BB84 protocol. With the "dual detectors" method, we see a significant improvement of the key rate (more than one order of magnitude) at a relatively short distance (up to 5 km).
To improve the performance of a quantum-key-distribution (QKD) system, high speed, low dark count single photon detectors (or low-noise homodyne detectors) are required. However, in practice, a fast detector is usually noisy. Here, we propose a dual-detector method to improve the performance of a practical QKD system with realistic detectors: the legitimate receiver randomly uses either a fast (but noisy) detector or a quiet (but slow) detector to measure the incoming quantum signals. The measurement results from the quiet detector can be used to bound the eavesdropper's information, while the measurement results from the fast detector are used to generate a secure key. We apply this idea to various QKD protocols. Simulation results demonstrate significant improvements of the secure key rate in the lower loss regime in both Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) protocol with ideal single photon source and Gaussian-modulated coherent states protocol; while for decoy-state BB84 protocol with weak coherent source, the improvement is moderate. We also discuss various practical issues in implementing the dual-detector scheme.
The performance of a practical quantum key distribution (QKD) system is often limited by the multi-photon state emission of its source and the dark counts of its detectors. Here, we present two methods to improve its performance. The first method is decoy state QKD: the sender randomly sends out weak coherent states with various average photon numbers (which are named as signal state and decoy states). In [14,15], we have performed the first experimental implementation of decoy state QKD over 15km and 60km respectively, thus dramatically increasing the distance and secure key generation rate of practical QKD systems. Our work has been followed up by many research groups worldwide [16-18]. The second scheme is QKD with "dual detectors" [19]: the legitimate receiver randomly uses either a fast (but noisy) detector or a quiet (but slow) detector to measure the incoming quantum signals. The measurement results from the quiet detector can be used to upper bound the eavesdropper's information, while the measurement results from the fast detector are used to generate a secure key. We applied this idea to various QKD protocols. Simulation results demonstrated significant improvements in both BB84 protocol with ideal single photon source and Gaussian-modulated coherent states protocol.
We developed a high speed homodyne detector in the telecommunication wavelength region for a Gaussian-modulated coherent-state quantum key distribution experiment. We are able to achieve a 100 MHz bandwidth, ultra-low electronic noise and pulse-resolved homodyne detector. The bandwidth of this homodyne detector has reached the same order of magnitude of the best homodyne detectors reported. By overcoming photodiode response functions mismatch, choosing proper laser sources, ensuring the homodyne detector linearity and stabilizing the homodyne detection system, we demonstrate that the homodyne detector has a 10 dB shot-noise-to-electronic-noise ratio in the time domain at a local oscillator of 5.4*10^8 photons/pulse at a laser repetition rate of 10 MHz. With this homodyne detector, we expect to ncrease our GMCS QKD experiment speed by 100 times, which will improve the key generation rate by 1-2 orders of magnitude.
We discuss the excess noise contributions of a practical balanced homodyne detector (BHD) in Gaussian-modulated coherent-state (GMCS) quantum key distribution (QKD). We point out that the key generated from the original realistic model of GMCS QKD may not be secure. In our refined realistic model , we take into account excess noise due to the finite bandwidth of the homodyne detector and the fluctuation of the local oscillator (LO). A high-speed BHD suitable for GMCS QKD in the telecommunication wavelength region is built and experimentally tested. The 3 dB bandwidth of the BHD is found to be 104 MHz and its electronic noise level is 13 dB below the shot noise at an LO level of 8.5 × 10 8 photons per pulse. The secure key rate of a GMCS QKD experiment with this homodyne detector is expected to reach Mbits s −1 over a few kilometers.
In most implementations of quantum-key-distribution (QKD) protocols the secure keys originate from single-photon signals. However, due to the unavoidable channel losses and the low efficiencies of single photon detectors, the key generation rate of a single-photon QKD system is low. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the Gaussian-modulated coherent state (GMCS) QKD protocol because it can be implemented with conventional laser sources and high efficiency homodyne-detectors. Here, we present our experimental results with a fully fiber-based one-way GMCS QKD system. Our system employed a double Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) configuration in which the weak quantum signal and the strong local-oscillator (LO) go through the same fiber between Alice and Bob. We employed two novel techniques to suppress system excess noise. First, to suppress the LO's leakage, an important contribution to the excess noise, we implemented a scheme combining polarization and frequency multiplexing, achieving an extinction ratio of 70dB. Second, to further minimize the system excess noise due to phase drift of the double MZI, the sender simply remaps her data by performing a rotation operation. Under a realistic model, the secure key rates determined with a 5km and a 20km fiber link are 0.3bit/pulse and 0.05bit/pulse, respectively. These key rates are significantly higher than that of a practical BB84 QKD system.
We evaluate the performance of Gaussian Modulated Coherent State (GMCS) Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CV-QKD), in terms of secure key rate, at different detector bandwidths. We illustrate the advantages and limitations of high-speed CV-QKD systems using a general noise model in which we consider various noise sources and their dependence upon detection bandwidth. Experimentally, the feasibility of high speed CV-QKD is demonstrated by using a GHz bandwidth balanced homodyne detector (BHD) established with commercially available components. We provide secure key rates of transmitted and local local oscillator schemes under various clock rates.