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Plug-and-play sending-or-not-sending twin-field quantum key distribution

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Abstract

Twin-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD) is a new extraordinary QKD protocol, which can overcome the fundamental rate-distance limit without quantum repeaters. Moreover, its variant, the sending-or-not-sending twin-field quantum key distribution (SNS-QKD) protocol, can both tolerate large misalignment error and have a higher key rate; however, the light source is assumed to be the trusted one in the original SNS protocol. In this paper, we propose a more practical SNS-QKD protocol with plug-and-play architecture, named \( P \& P\) SNS-QKD protocol. We present the framework of \( P \& P\) SNS-QKD protocol and analyze the tight bound of its key rate with the four-intensity decoy-state method. The proposed protocol can avoid the careful adjustments, and the control of the system and the numerical simulations results show that the proposed protocol has a close key generation rate to that of the original SNS-QKD. Besides, the proposed protocol still maintains a high tolerance for misalignment errors even if the source is unknown and untrusted.

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Acknowledgements

The work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61871234), the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (SJCX19-0251), and the open research fund of Key Lab of Broadband Wireless Communication and Sensor Network Technology (Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications), Ministry of Education (JZNY202104).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Signal Processing Transmission, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing, 210003, China

    Ke Xue, Shengmei Zhao & Rui Xu

  2. Key Lab of Broadband Wireless Communication and Sensor Network Technology, Ministry of Education, Nanjing, 210003, China

    Shengmei Zhao & Qianping Mao

  3. College of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Qianping Mao

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  1. Ke Xue
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  2. Shengmei Zhao
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  4. Rui Xu
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Correspondence to Shengmei Zhao or Qianping Mao.

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Xue, K., Zhao, S., Mao, Q. et al. Plug-and-play sending-or-not-sending twin-field quantum key distribution. Quantum Inf Process 20, 320 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-021-03259-x

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