Experimental study of secure quantum key distribution with source and detection imperfections

Abstract

The quantum key distribution (QKD), guaranteed by the principle of quantum physics, is a promising solution for future secure information and communication technology. However, device imperfections compromise the security of real-life QKD systems, restricting the wide deployment of QKD. This study reports a decoy-state BB84 QKD experiment that considers both source and detection imperfections. In particular, we achieved a rigorous finite-key security bound over fiber links of up to 75 km by applying a systematic performance analysis. Furthermore, our study considers more device imperfections than most previous experiments, and the proposed theory can be extended to other discrete-variable QKD systems. These features constitute a crucial step toward securing QKD with imperfect practical devices.

11 pages

References in corpus (9)

• Satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution
• Device-independent security of quantum cryptography against collective attacks
• Secure Quantum Key Distribution
• Satellite-to-ground quantum communication using a 50-kg-class micro-satellite
• Field and long-term demonstration of a wide area quantum key distribution network
• 2-GHz clock quantum key distribution over 260 km of standard telecom fiber
• Reply to "Avoiding the Detector Blinding Attack on Quantum Cryptography"
• Hacking the quantum key distribution system by exploiting the avalanche transition region of single photon detectors
• Experimental secure quantum key distribution in presence of polarization-dependent loss