Practical long-distance quantum key distribution system using decoy levels

Published

April 30, 2009

Author(s)

Danna Rosenberg, Charles G. Peterson, Jim A. Harrington, Patrick R. Rice, N. Dallman, K. T. Tyagi, K. P. McCabe, Sae Woo Nam, Burm Baek, Robert Hadfield, Richard J. Hughes, Jane E. Nordholt

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) has the potential for widespread real-world applications, but no secure long-distance experiment has demonstrated the truly practical operation needed to move QKD from the laboratory to the real world due largely to limitations in synchronization and poor detector performance. Here, we report results obtained using a fully automated, robust QKD system based on the Bennett Brassard 1984 (BB84)protocol with low-noise superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) and decoy levels to produce a secret key with unconditional security over a record 140.6 km of optical fibre, an increase of more than a factor of five compared with the previous record for unconditionally secure key generation in a practical QKD system.

Citation

New Journal of Physics

Issue

11

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

quantum key distribution, decoy states, BB84, superconducting detectors, sspd

Citation

Rosenberg, D. , Peterson, C. , Harrington, J. , Rice, P. , Dallman, N. , Tyagi, K. , McCabe, K. , Nam, S. , Baek, B. , Hadfield, R. , Hughes, R. and Nordholt, J. (2009), Practical long-distance quantum key distribution system using decoy levels, New Journal of Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=33013 (Accessed December 26, 2024)