arXiv subjects

Yingqiu Mao

Publications and source records attributed to Yingqiu Mao.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Long distance co-propagation of quantum key distribution and terabit classical optical data channels

Quantum key distribution (QKD) generates symmetric keys between two remote parties, and guarantees the keys not accessible to any third party. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) between QKD and classical optical communications by sharing the existing fibre optics infrastructure is highly desired in order to reduce the cost of QKD applications. However, quantum signals are extremely weak and thus easily affected by the spontaneous Raman scattering effect from intensive classical light. Here, by means of wavelength selecting and spectral and temporal filtering, we realize the multiplexing and long distance co-propagation of QKD and Terabit classical coherent optical communication system up to 80km. The data capacity is two orders of magnitude larger than the previous results. Our demonstration verifies the feasibility of QKD and classical communication to share the resources of backbone fibre links, and thus taking the utility of QKD a great step forward.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Security of quantum key distribution with multiphoton components

Most qubit-based quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols extract the secure key merely from single-photon component of the attenuated lasers. However, with the Scarani-Acin-Ribordy-Gisin 2004 (SARG04) QKD protocol, the unconditionally secure key can be extracted from the two-photon component by modifying the classical post-processing procedure in the BB84 protocol. Employing the merits of SARG04 QKD protocol and six-state preparation, one can extract secure key from the components of single photon up to four photons. In this paper, we provide the exact relations between the secure key rate and the bit error rate in a six-state SARG04 protocol with single-photon, two-photon, three-photon, and four-photon sources. By restricting the mutual information between the phase error and bit error, we obtain a higher secure bit error rate threshold of the multiphoton components than previous works. Besides, we compare the performances of the six-state SARG04 with other prepare-and-measure QKD protocols using decoy states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Measurement device independent quantum key distribution over 404 km optical fibre

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide unconditional secure communication between two distant parties. Although the significance of QKD is undisputed, its feasibility has been questioned because of certain limitations in the practical application of real-life QKD systems. It is a common belief the lack of perfect single-photon source and the existence of detection loss will handicap the feasibility of QKD by creating security loopholes and distance limitations. The measurement device independent QKD (MDIQKD) with decoy-state method removes the security threats from both the imperfect single-photon source and the detection loss. Lengthening the distance and improving the key rate of QKD with such a superior method is thus the central issue in the practical application of QKD. Here, we report the results of MDIQKD over 404 km of ultralow-loss optical fibre and 311 km of standard optical fibre by employing an optimized four-intensity decoy-state method. This record-breaking implementation of MDIQKD method not only provides a new distance record for both MDIQKD and all types of QKD systems, more significantly, it achieves a distance that the traditional BB84 QKD would not be able to achieve with the same detection devices even with ideal single-phone sources. For the first time, our work demonstrates that with the MDIQKD method, imperfect devices can achieve better results than what ideal sources could have achieved. This work represents a significant step towards proving and developing a feasible long-distance QKD.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Detector-decoy quantum key distribution without monitoring signal disturbance

The round-robin differential phase-shift quantum key distribution protocol provides a secure way to exchange private information without monitoring conventional disturbances and still maintains a high tolerance of noise, making it desirable for practical implementations of quantum key distribution. However, photon number resolving detectors are required to ensure that the detected signals are single photons in the original protocol. Here, we adopt the detector-decoy method and give the bounds to the fraction of detected events from single photons. Utilizing the advantages of the protocol, we provide a practical method of performing the protocol with desirable performances requiring only threshold single-photon detectors.

quant-ph↗