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Acta Physica Sinica

Stable quantum key distribution with polarization control

Jie Chen, Yao Li, Wu Guang, Zeng He-Ping, 华东师范大学光谱学与波谱学教育部重点实验室, 上海 200062

Published Jan 1, 2007• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we promote a principle of polarization feedback which keeps polarization states stable in long-distance fiber. It is quite difficult to realize long-term stable quantum key distribution (QKD) with polarization encoding due to the effect of irregular polarization fluctuation in single mode fiber. We have designed a polarization feedback control system to compensate for the birefringence. And a polarization encoded QKD experiment has been realized in 100km fiber.

DOI
10.7498/aps.56.5243

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In this paper, we promote a principle of polarization feedback which keeps polarization states stable in long-distance fiber. It is quite difficult to realize long-term stable quantum key distribution (QKD) with polarization encoding due to the effect of irregular polarization fluctuation in single mode fiber. We have designed a polarization feedback control system to compensate for the birefringence. And a polarization encoded QKD experiment has been realized in 100km fiber.
Polarizations of single-photon pulses have been controlled with long-term stability of more than 10 hours by using an active feedback technique for auto-compensation of unpredictable polarization scrambling in long-distance fiber. Experimental tests of long-term operations in 50, 75 and 100 km fibers demonstrated that such a single-photon polarization control supported stable polarization encoding in long-distance fibers to facilitate stable one-way fiber system for polarization-encoded quantum key distribution, providing quantum bit error rates below the absolute security threshold.
Polarization-encoding provides a promising approach for the practical quantum key distribution (QKD) system due to the simple encoding and decoding method. Here we present a long-term stable polarization-encoding QKD with a real-time polarization control. The polarization of the signal photons in the optical fiber was maintained stable by using time-division-multiplexed reference pulses for feedback control. We implemented this technique in the QKD experiment in 50 km fiber to show that it could facilitate polarization-encoded quantum communication. The system operated stably for ∼460 min, and the quantum bit error rate was ∼5.27%. The raw key generating rate in this system was kept stable at ∼500 bits s -1 . The advantages and disadvantages of the previous polarization-control schemes were also rigorously analyzed.
A proof-of-principle demonstration of a one-way polarization encoding quantum key distribution (QKD) system is demonstrated. This approach can automatically compensate for birefringence and phase drift. This is achieved by constructing intrinsically stable polarization-modulated units (PMUs) to perform the encoding and decoding, which can be used with four-state protocol, six-state protocol, and the measurement-device-independent (MDI) scheme. A polarization extinction ratio of about 30 dB was maintained for several hours over a 50 km optical fiber without any adjustments to our setup, which evidences its potential for use in practical applications.
The polarization-encoded quantum key distribution system uses the polarization property of photons to realize secure key sharing. For fiber-based systems, however, the birefringence effect in single-mode fibers significantly affects the preservation of photon polarization states. Therefore, it is essential to carry out polarization compensation for polarization coding system. The current mainstream polarization compensation systems utilize Field Programmable Gate Array for data acquisition, calculation, and control. This method offers rapid and efficient performance but comes with high costs and complex designs. To address this problem, a polarization compensation system based on hardware equipment is proposed in this paper. The system not only reduces the cost of polarization compensation, but also is simple and easy to operate by using computer for data processing. To further demonstrate the feasibility of the system, a polarization compensation procedure based on a gradient algorithm is designed, with the error count rate of a single-photon detector serving as an evaluation parameter. In addition, this algorithm is applied to the aforementioned system for long-term and long-distance polarization monitoring. Over a period of approximately 24 hours, the average error count rate for a 20km transmission fiber is 0.59% and the average error rate for a 50km transmission fiber is 0.55%. These experimental results demonstrate that the system exhibits good polarization compensation performance and long running ability.