Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

European Conference on Optical Communication

Two-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Protocol for Increased Key Rate Fiber-Based Quantum Communications

Beatrice Da Lio, Davide Bacco, Yunhong Ding, Daniele Cozzolino, Kjeld Dalgaard, Karsten K. Rottwitt, Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe

Published Sep 1, 2017• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally prove a novel two-dimensional QKD scheme, relying on differential phasetime shifting (DPTS) of strongly attenuated weak coherent pulses. We demonstrate QKD transmission up to 170 km standard fiber, and even include a classical channel up to 90 km.
DOI
10.1109/ecoc.2017.8346242

Related papers

Experimental demonstration of the DPTS QKD protocol over a 170 km fiber link

Beatrice Da Lio, Davide Bacco, Daniele Cozzolino +4 more

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a promising technology that aims to solve the security problem arising from the advent of quantum computers. While the main theoretical aspects are well developed today, limited performances, in terms of the achievable link distance and the secret key rate, are preventing the deployment of this technology on a large scale. More recent QKD protocols, which use multiple degrees of freedom for encoding of the quantum states, allow enhancement of the system performances. Here, we present the experimental demonstration of the differential phase-time shifting protocol up to 170 km of the fiber link. We compare its performance with the well-known coherent one-way and differential phase shifting protocols, demonstrating a higher secret key rate up to 100 km. Moreover, we propagate a classical signal in the same fiber, proving the compatibility of quantum and classical light.

arXiv:1901.01768•Applied Physics Letters•Jan 2, 2019•20 citations

High-dimensional coherent one-way quantum key distribution

Kfir Sulimany, Guy Pelc, Rom Dudkiewicz +4 more

Abstract High-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) offers secure communication with key rates that surpass those of QKD protocols utilizing two-dimensional encoding. However, existing high-dimensional QKD protocols require additional experimental resources, such as multiport interferometers and multiple detectors, thereby increasing the cost of high-dimensional systems and limiting their use. We introduce and analyze a high-dimensional QKD protocol that requires only standard two-dimensional hardware. We provide security analysis against individual and coherent attacks, establishing upper and lower bounds on the secure key rates. We tested our protocol on a standard two-dimensional QKD system over a 40 km fiber link, achieving a twofold increase in secure key rate compared to the standard two-dimensional coherent one-way protocol, without any hardware modifications. This work offers a significant improvement in the performance of already deployed QKD systems through simple software updates and holds broad applicability across various QKD schemes, making high-dimensional QKD practical for widespread use.

arXiv:2105.04733•npj Quantum Information•Jan 28, 2025•23 citations

Two-dimensional distributed-phase-reference protocol for quantum key distribution

Davide Bacco, Jesper B. Christensen, Mario A. Usuga Castaneda +4 more

Quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum communication enable the secure exchange of information between remote parties. Currently, the distributed-phase-reference (DPR) protocols, which are based on weak coherent pulses, are among the most practical solutions for long-range QKD. During the last 10 years, long-distance fiber-based DPR systems have been successfully demonstrated, although fundamental obstacles such as intrinsic channel losses limit their performance. Here, we introduce the first two-dimensional DPR-QKD protocol in which information is encoded in the time and phase of weak coherent pulses. The ability of extracting two bits of information per detection event, enables a higher secret key rate in specific realistic network scenarios. Moreover, despite the use of more dimensions, the proposed protocol remains simple, practical, and fully integrable.

arXiv:1606.08375•Scientific Reports•Dec 22, 2016•39 citations

Phase encoded quantum key distribution up to 380 km in standard telecom grade fiber enabled by baseline error optimization

Nishant Kumar Pathak, Sumit Chaudhary, Sangeeta +1 more

Phase encoding in quantum key distribution (QKD) enables long-distance information-theoretic secure communication in optical fibers. We present a novel theoretical model characterizing errors from various sources in practical phase encoding-based QKD systems, namely the laser linewidth, detector dark counts, and channel dispersion. This model provides optimized optical pulse parameters and less distortion in pulses, which eliminates system imperfections and leads to a reduced quantum bit error rate (QBER) for practical QKD scenario. This analysis is applicable to various fiber-based phase and time encoding protocols. In particular, we implement this to a differential phase shift (DPS) QKD scheme operating at a 2.5 GHz clock, which produces a secure key rate of 193 bits/s at a fiber length of 265 km and an unprecedented QBER < 1[Formula: see text] up to 225 km length with standard telecom components. We show that by adjusting the quantum efficiency and dark count rates of detectors, proposed system can establish secure keys up to 380 km distance using standard telecom grade fiber with a QBER of 1.48%. Moreover, the system is compatible with existing optical fiber networks and capable of establishing a secure key exchange between two cities 432 km apart using ultra-low-loss (ULL) specialty fiber.

Scientific Reports•Sep 22, 2023•27 citations

Path-encoded high-dimensional quantum communication over a 2-km multicore fiber

Beatrice Da Lio, Daniele Cozzolino, Nicola Biagi +5 more

Abstract Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols based on high-dimensional quantum states have shown the route to increase the key rate generation while benefiting of enhanced error tolerance, thus overcoming the limitations of two-dimensional QKD protocols. Nonetheless, the reliable transmission through fiber links of high-dimensional quantum states remains an open challenge that must be addressed to boost their application. Here, we demonstrate the reliable transmission over a 2-km-long multicore fiber of path-encoded high-dimensional quantum states. Leveraging on a phase-locked loop system, a stable interferometric detection is guaranteed, allowing for low error rates and the generation of 6.3 Mbit/s of a secret key rate.

arXiv:2103.05992•npj Quantum Information•Apr 22, 2021•58 citations

2 GHz clock quantum key distribution over 260 km of standard telecom fiber

Shuang Wang, Wei Chen, Jun-Fu Guo +5 more

We report a demonstration of quantum key distribution (QKD) over a standard telecom fiber exceeding 50 dB in loss and 250 km in length. The differential phase shift QKD protocol was chosen and implemented with a 2 GHz system clock rate. By careful optimization of the 1 bit delayed Faraday-Michelson interferometer and the use of the superconducting single photon detector (SSPD), we achieved a quantum bit error rate below 2% when the fiber length was no more than 205 km, and of 3.45% for a 260 km fiber with 52.9 dB loss. We also improved the quantum efficiency of SSPD to obtain a high key rate for 50 km length.

arXiv:1203.4323•Optics Letters•Mar 6, 2012•242 citations
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a promising technology that aims to solve the security problem arising from the advent of quantum computers. While the main theoretical aspects are well developed today, limited performances, in terms of the achievable link distance and the secret key rate, are preventing the deployment of this technology on a large scale. More recent QKD protocols, which use multiple degrees of freedom for encoding of the quantum states, allow enhancement of the system performances. Here, we present the experimental demonstration of the differential phase-time shifting protocol up to 170 km of the fiber link. We compare its performance with the well-known coherent one-way and differential phase shifting protocols, demonstrating a higher secret key rate up to 100 km. Moreover, we propagate a classical signal in the same fiber, proving the compatibility of quantum and classical light.
Abstract High-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) offers secure communication with key rates that surpass those of QKD protocols utilizing two-dimensional encoding. However, existing high-dimensional QKD protocols require additional experimental resources, such as multiport interferometers and multiple detectors, thereby increasing the cost of high-dimensional systems and limiting their use. We introduce and analyze a high-dimensional QKD protocol that requires only standard two-dimensional hardware. We provide security analysis against individual and coherent attacks, establishing upper and lower bounds on the secure key rates. We tested our protocol on a standard two-dimensional QKD system over a 40 km fiber link, achieving a twofold increase in secure key rate compared to the standard two-dimensional coherent one-way protocol, without any hardware modifications. This work offers a significant improvement in the performance of already deployed QKD systems through simple software updates and holds broad applicability across various QKD schemes, making high-dimensional QKD practical for widespread use.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum communication enable the secure exchange of information between remote parties. Currently, the distributed-phase-reference (DPR) protocols, which are based on weak coherent pulses, are among the most practical solutions for long-range QKD. During the last 10 years, long-distance fiber-based DPR systems have been successfully demonstrated, although fundamental obstacles such as intrinsic channel losses limit their performance. Here, we introduce the first two-dimensional DPR-QKD protocol in which information is encoded in the time and phase of weak coherent pulses. The ability of extracting two bits of information per detection event, enables a higher secret key rate in specific realistic network scenarios. Moreover, despite the use of more dimensions, the proposed protocol remains simple, practical, and fully integrable.
Phase encoding in quantum key distribution (QKD) enables long-distance information-theoretic secure communication in optical fibers. We present a novel theoretical model characterizing errors from various sources in practical phase encoding-based QKD systems, namely the laser linewidth, detector dark counts, and channel dispersion. This model provides optimized optical pulse parameters and less distortion in pulses, which eliminates system imperfections and leads to a reduced quantum bit error rate (QBER) for practical QKD scenario. This analysis is applicable to various fiber-based phase and time encoding protocols. In particular, we implement this to a differential phase shift (DPS) QKD scheme operating at a 2.5 GHz clock, which produces a secure key rate of 193 bits/s at a fiber length of 265 km and an unprecedented QBER < 1[Formula: see text] up to 225 km length with standard telecom components. We show that by adjusting the quantum efficiency and dark count rates of detectors, proposed system can establish secure keys up to 380 km distance using standard telecom grade fiber with a QBER of 1.48%. Moreover, the system is compatible with existing optical fiber networks and capable of establishing a secure key exchange between two cities 432 km apart using ultra-low-loss (ULL) specialty fiber.
Abstract Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols based on high-dimensional quantum states have shown the route to increase the key rate generation while benefiting of enhanced error tolerance, thus overcoming the limitations of two-dimensional QKD protocols. Nonetheless, the reliable transmission through fiber links of high-dimensional quantum states remains an open challenge that must be addressed to boost their application. Here, we demonstrate the reliable transmission over a 2-km-long multicore fiber of path-encoded high-dimensional quantum states. Leveraging on a phase-locked loop system, a stable interferometric detection is guaranteed, allowing for low error rates and the generation of 6.3 Mbit/s of a secret key rate.
We report a demonstration of quantum key distribution (QKD) over a standard telecom fiber exceeding 50 dB in loss and 250 km in length. The differential phase shift QKD protocol was chosen and implemented with a 2 GHz system clock rate. By careful optimization of the 1 bit delayed Faraday-Michelson interferometer and the use of the superconducting single photon detector (SSPD), we achieved a quantum bit error rate below 2% when the fiber length was no more than 205 km, and of 3.45% for a 260 km fiber with 52.9 dB loss. We also improved the quantum efficiency of SSPD to obtain a high key rate for 50 km length.