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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Asymmetric reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Kejin Wei, Zihao Chen, Zijian Li, Bingbing Zheng, Zhenrong Zhang

Published Oct 7, 2022• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution is a promising candidate for building star-type quantum secure networks because it does not require reference alignment and removes all detector-side-channel attacks. However, prior works considered only a symmetric case in which the channels of both users have the same loss. In a realistic quantum secure network, the losses of various channels are likely to be different owing to their geographical locations. In this study, we present an asymmetric protocol for scalable reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution networks. By allowing independent adjustments of signal intensities of both users, our protocol provides a higher key rate than previous symmetric protocols in a realistic quantum secure network. The simulation results demonstrate that our protocol works well under realistic experimental conditions and obtains a key rate that is approximately one order of magnitude higher than that of previous methods. Our study paves the way for high-rate quantum secure communication network development.

DOI
10.1364/josab.468487

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Reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution is a promising candidate for building star-type quantum secure networks because it does not require reference alignment and removes all detector-side-channel attacks. However, prior works considered only a symmetric case in which the channels of both users have the same loss. In a realistic quantum secure network, the losses of various channels are likely to be different owing to their geographical locations. In this study, we present an asymmetric protocol for scalable reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution networks. By allowing independent adjustments of signal intensities of both users, our protocol provides a higher key rate than previous symmetric protocols in a realistic quantum secure network. The simulation results demonstrate that our protocol works well under realistic experimental conditions and obtains a key rate that is approximately one order of magnitude higher than that of previous methods. Our study paves the way for high-rate quantum secure communication network development.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can eliminate detector side channels and prevent all attacks on detectors.The future of MDI-QKD is a quantum network that provides service to many users over untrusted relay nodes.In a real quantum network, the losses of various channels are different and users are added and deleted over time.To adapt to these features, we propose a type of protocol that allows users to independently choose their optimal intensity settings to compensate for different channel losses.Such a protocol enables a scalable high-rate MDI-QKD network that can easily be applied for channels of different losses and allows users to be dynamically added or deleted at any time without affecting the performance of existing users.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can eliminate all detector side channels and it is practical with current technology. Previous implementations of MDI-QKD all used two symmetric channels with similar losses. However, the secret key rate is severely limited when different channels have different losses. Here we report the results of the first high-rate MDI-QKD experiment over asymmetric channels. By using the recent 7-intensity optimization approach, we demonstrate>10×higher key rate than the previous best-known protocols for MDI-QKD in the situation of large channel asymmetry, and extend the secure transmission distance by more than 20-50 km in standard telecom fiber. The results have moved MDI-QKD towards widespread applications in practical network settings, where the channel losses are asymmetric and user nodes could be dynamically added or deleted.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can eliminate detector side channels and prevent all attacks on detectors. The future of MDI-QKD is a quantum network that provides service to many users over untrusted relay nodes. In a real quantum network, the losses of various channels are different and users are added and deleted over time. To adapt to these features, we propose a protocol that allows users to independently choose their optimal intensity settings to compensate for different channel losses. Such a protocol enables a scalable high-rate MDI-QKD network that can easily be applied for channels of different losses and allows users to be dynamically added/deleted at any time without affecting the performance of existing users.
Reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-MDI-QKD) eliminates detector side-channel attacks and avoids reference-frame calibration. While its feasibility has been widely demonstrated, existing implementations typically assume fixed or slowly drifting reference-frame misalignment, conditions rarely satisfied outside the laboratory. In realistic environments, rapid and free-running reference-frame variations can severely degrade both the key rate and transmission distance of conventional RFI-MDI-QKD. Here we propose a free-running RFI-MDI-QKD protocol that maintains high-rate key generation under rapid reference-frame variations. By introducing a classification-distillation method that reclassifies total detection events, secure keys can be extracted without modifying the experimental setup. Our protocol achieves a key rate more than nine times higher than the best previous RFI-MDI-QKD scheme and tolerates channel losses exceeding 24 dB, where earlier approaches fail. These results enable practical quantum key distribution on mobile platforms, including satellite-to-ground links and airborne nodes.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) can serve large numbers of users with unconditional secure communication, in which measurement-device-independent (MDI) QKD protocol can conveniently enhance realistic security by eliminating all detector side channels. In multi-user scenarios, MDI-QKD networks should meet the requirements of reliability and robustness. Around the issues, we complete a series of work on performance improvement, low-cost deployment, and robust networking. First is to answer how to change the trusted node to the untrusted node with low cost, here we propose and demonstrate an MDIQKD which is compatible with phase encoding BB84 networks, allowing for economical deployment of MDI-QKD networks and reconciliation between high key rate and high realistic security in the same network. Then we make the MDI networks more robust. We design an MDI-QKD networking scheme for multi-user access where more than two users can generate keys synchronously regardless of aligning reference frames and compensating channel disturbance on polarization. Third, we find a general method to distil secure keys from quantum discord, which is different to the previous entanglement-based frameworks of MDI-QKD, allowing imperfect preparation and measurement of quantum states. The series of work can help the practical application of MDI-QKD networks, and promote the development of quantum networks.
Abstract Recently, a novel reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution protocol was proposed, which can remove all detector side channels as well as tolerate unknown and slow variance of reference frame without active alignment. In this paper, we propose a new tomographic method to estimate the key rate in that protocol. We estimate the key rate using conventional method and tomographic method respectively and compare the two methods by numerical simulation. The numerical simulation results show that tomographic approach is equivalent to the conventional approach, which can be used as an alternative method.