English

Loophole-free plug-and-play quantum key distribution

Quantum Physics 2021-08-11 v3 Optics

Abstract

Robust, simple, and flexible quantum key distribution (QKD) is vital for realising practical applications of this technique. Contrary to typical phase-coded QKD schemes, the plug-and-play QKD design requires only one arm-length-insensitive interferometer without active feedback, in which the noise is automatically compensated by the two-way structure. However, there are certain possible loopholes in the typical plug-and-play designs, which require consideration and strict monitoring. This study proposes a loophole-free plug-and-play QKD scheme with two-way protocol and presents an experimental demonstration of said scheme. The security is analysed under a collective attack scenario assisted by the decoy state method. The scheme was implemented in a 50.4 km commercial fibre without active feedback. The system showed highly robust performance with an ultra-low error rate and maintained an ultra-high visibility of 0.9947+/-0.0002 through significant environmental changes over 24 hours.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2010.05503,
  title  = {Loophole-free plug-and-play quantum key distribution},
  author = {Ruoyang Qi and Haoran Zhang and Jiancun Gao and Liuguo Yin and Gui-Lu Long},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.05503},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T19:16:03.961Z