Journal Article

High-Speed Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution with Integrated Silicon Photonics

Jiang, Xiao, Xu, Feihu, Zhang, Wei-Jun, Peng, Cheng-Zhi, Li, Hao, Wang, Zhen, Wei, Kejin, Li, Wei, Pan, Jian-Wei, Min, Hao, Liao, Sheng-Kai, Chen, Teng-Yun, Tan, Hao, You, Lixing, Li, Yang

2020

Overview

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI QKD) removes all detector side channels and enables secure QKD with an untrusted relay. It is suitable for building a star-type quantum access network, where the complicated and expensive measurement devices are placed in the central untrusted relay and each user requires only a low-cost transmitter, such as an integrated photonic chip. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a 1.25-GHz silicon photonic chip-based MDI QKD system using polarization encoding. The photonic chip transmitters integrate the necessary encoding components for a standard QKD source. We implement random modulations of polarization states and decoy intensities, and demonstrate a finite-key secret rate of31bit/sover 36-dB channel loss (or 180-km standard fiber). This key rate is higher than state-of-the-art MDI QKD experiments. The results show that silicon photonic chip-based MDI QKD, benefiting from miniaturization, low-cost manufacture, and compatibility with CMOS microelectronics, is a promising solution for future quantum secure networks.

• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Subject: CMOS / Communication networks / Equipment costs / High speed / Low cost / Measuring instruments / Miniaturization / Photonics / Polarization / Quantum cryptography / Quantum mechanics / Relay / Silicon / Transmitters