Introduction

With the help of quantum key distribution (QKD), two distant peers, usually named Alice and Bob, can achieve information-theoretic secure key exchange. Commonly, QKD performs the one-way protocol, in which Alice prepares then sends qubits to Bob while Bob measures the incoming qubits to decode the raw key bits. One of the most famous one-way protocols is BB841, which has been successfully and widely demonstrated2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. To exploit alternative approaches for QKD and wider research area of quantum communications, researchers have proposed the two-way protocols12,13,14,15,16,17,18. In such protocols, Bob prepares then sends qubits to Alice. Alice encodes classical information on the quantum states of the incoming qubits then sends them back to Bob. Finally, Bob performs measurements to decode messages.

Although the full potential of two-way QKD protocols have not been clearly revealed, some interesting and valuable features of such protocols have been presented. For example, “Ping-Pong” (PP) protocol12 and LM0516 protocol are determinstic16, which means no need of the basis choice reconciliation (necessary for BB84). Lu, H. et al. proved that some two-way deterministic QKD (DQKD) protocols are secure against detector-side-channel attacks on the backward channel17. Beaudry, N. J. et al. demonstrated that two-way DQKD protocols can outperform comparable one-way protocols18. For experimental implementations, the polarization fluctuations can be self-compensated by Faraday mirrors in the two-way transmissions18. These merits make two-way protocols worthy of further developments, both in the theory and experiments19,20,21,22.

Two-way protocols can be divided into two categories based on whether entanglement sources are used. Entanglement is a key resource in the research field of quantum information. The entanglement-based two-way protocols, such as quantum illumination (QI)23,24,25, may reach the goal of implementing broadband key distribution and quantum-secured direct communications (QSDC)12,15,26. Thus, although the two-way protocols without using entanglements have better performance in most occasions based on state-of-the-art technologies, the potential of entanglement-based two-way protocols need to be seriously explored, especially taking into account the rapid research progress of entanglement light sources27,28.

Among entanglement-based two-way protocols, the PP protocol is a pioneering and inspiring work. For the first time, it allows implementing DQKD and applying super dense coding (SDC) to QKD makes it conceptually interesting18. Its deterministic property also permits the potential applications in quantum direct communication15 and quantum dialogue29. Compared to the two-way protocols without entanglements (like LM05), PP does not need techniques for drawbacks of multi-photon sources like weak coherent states. And the random number generator is not necessary at Bob’s side. However, the security of PP protocol in lossy quantum channels can not be guaranteed30,31,32,33, which is the major obstacle to apply it in real-life conditions. So far, the only experiment of PP protocol was presented in a free-space quantum channel within 2 meters21.

Researchers have been trying to improve the PP protocol, both in the security layer and information gain13,34,35,36. Recently, Han et al. proposed a modified version (abbr. MPP) of PP for QKD and proved its security against collective attacks in practical noisy and lossy channels37. In our work, the major contribution is to experimentally explore the feasibility of MPP over lossy fiber channels. We build the entangled photon source at degenerate wavelength of 1560 nm, using the hot PPKTP-Sagnac technique38,39,40,41,42. Telecom fibers together with variable attenuators are used as the quantum channel for travel photons and the storage unit for home photons. Additionally, the travel photons’ forward (Bob-Alice) and backward (Alice-Bob) channels share the single fiber link due to a polarization Sagnac interferometer at Alice’s side. With a 90° Faraday rotator, this interferometer is equivalent to a Faraday mirror when there is no encoding operation.

The experiment results verify the feasibility of MPP protocol over telecom fibers, at least in terms of the optical losses. To the best of our knowledge, the experiment is the first proof-of-principle demonstration of entanglement-based DQKD over a lossy channel. It demonstrates that MPP can find potential applications in real-life quantum communications based on existing fiber-optic networks.

Protocol

It is necessary to give a description of MPP protocol. At first, Bob prepares N pairs of maximally polarization-entangled states , where H (V) denotes horizontally (vertically) polarized state and the subscript h (t) labels the home (travel) photon. The travel photon is sent to Alice through the forward channel (Bob-Alice), while the home photon is stored locally.

Both Alice and Bob choose message (or control) mode with probability c and 1 − c respectively. In message mode, Alice randomly applies one of four unitary encoding operations I0, I1, Y0 and Y1 (each one with probability of 1/4) to the incoming states, i.e.,

where m ∈ {0, 1} and denotes the vacuum state. Note that I0 (Y0) is different from I1 (Y1) due to the existence of . In original PP, Alice only chooses one of operations I0 and Y0. Here, adding I1 and Y1 does not affect decoding at Bob’s side, but can introduce a phase randomization to Eve’s system then limit the information that can be gained by Eve37. Alice records the choice of operation I0 or I1 (Y0 or Y1) as classical bit 0 (1). Then she sends the travel photon back to Bob. Under message mode, Bob performs Bell-state measurements on received photon pairs to decode messages, i.e., he records the result as classical bit 0 (1). In control mode, Alice (Bob) measures the travel (home) photon with projectors .

After transmissions, Alice and Bob announce runs in message and control modes. Through sacrificing certain bits, they estimate the error rate e under message mode. And by sharing measurement results under control mode, they obtain probabilities pVH, pHH, pVV, pHV, pvV and pvH, where pVH means the probability that Alice receives when Bob receives and other probabilities have similar meanings. Finally, secure key bits are generated through privacy amplification and error correction. Secure key rate R (bits per detection or coincidence event) is given by37

where

H(x) represents the Shannon’s binary entropy function and η is the transmission efficiency of the backward channel (Alice-Bob). In our setup, the forward and backward transmissions share the same fiber link, as depicted in Fig. 1. Thus, the transmission efficiency of the forward channel can also be denoted by η.

Experiments setup

Firstly, we need an entangled photon source according to MPP. Due to the robustness and high brightness, the PPKTP-Sagnac configuration (cf. part 1 of Fig. 1) has become a hot technique of generating wavelength-degenerate polarization-entangled photon pairs38,39,40,41,42. In this work, our entangled source achieves the degenerate wavelength of 1560 nm, based on the PPKTP-Sagnac technique and continuous-wave pump.

From38, the output two-photon state of the polarization Sagnac interferometer (PSI) in Fig. 1 is

where both the ratio k and the phase φ are determined by the polarization state of the pump laser and the subscript h (t) still labels the home (travel) photon. With the 160-mW pump power and gated InGaAs avalanche SPDs (detection efficiency: ≈10%), we obtain a coincidence count rate of about 100 cps (counts per second) and single-side count rate of 11 k cps locally. Raw visibilities under H/V and +45°/−45° bases reach 98.93% ± 0.45% and 96.03% ± 1.08% respectively. The ratio between two-pair and single-pair generation rates is less than 0.01. And the S parameter for state is 2.7567 ± 0.0165, which violates the Bell inequality with 46 standard deviations. More details (like the HOM dip) are given in43.

As shown in Fig. 1, the travel photon is sent to Alice through a 10-meter fiber channel then sent back to Bob through the same fiber. The home photon is directed into a two-coupler structure (air gap), then it is coupled into a local fiber delay line (45 m). Finally, this photon pair meet at Bob’s Bell-state analyzer (BSA), which contains a BS followed by two PBSs44.

To observe the two-photon interference at BSA, path lengths of the travel and home photons should be equalized within the coherence length (≈0.3 mm, as shown in Fig. 2). At first, we compensate the short path to realize the interference between two 1550-nm weak coherent pulses with the pulse width (FWHM) of 50 ps. This step can minimize the path length difference within 1 cm. Then the two-coupler structure (cf. Fig. 1) with an optical stage is used to reduce the path length difference further.

If the two-photon state coming into BSA is , the two-photon interference may cause a coincidence count between DV1 and DH1 (DV1 and DH2). Here, we adopt master-slave type coincidence counters with 1 ns window. Electrical count signals from the master SPD DV1 is used to trigger the slave SPD DH1 (DH2), then electrical count signals of DH1 (DH2) are recorded to obtain the coincidence rate CV1H1 (CV1H2). For easy understanding, the travel and home photons below only refer to the ones postponed by the gated coincidence counters. In other words, our entangled source can be treated as a pulsed one with the same trigger frequency as SPD DV1.

As depicted in part 3 of Fig. 1, the state , coming into Alice’s side, should be totally transmitted (reflected) by PBS into PSI of Alice, with polarization compensation of the forward channel (Bob-Alice). In this PSI, the clockwise (CW) input state of PM is adjusted by PC1 to one of its eigenstates (denoted by . Later, we adjust PC2 to make CW propagating state reflected by PBS back into the backward channel (Alice-Bob). Correspondingly, the counterclockwise (CCW) propagating state will be transmitted by PBS back into the backward channel. And it is easy to verify that CCW input state of PM should also be . Due to the 90° FR (see Fig. 1), this PSI is functionally equivalent to a Faraday mirror, which can suppress birefringence effects and polarization-dependent loss (PDL) during two-way transmissions45. To avoid calibrations above, we recommend using polarization-maintaining PM and fibers.

Note that, PM is placed asymmetrically in the PSI of Alice. So, and will reach PM at different times, denoted by t1 and t2 (t2 − t1 ≈ 100 ns) respectively. Ideally, Alice’s encoding operation is

where φ1 (φ2) denotes the introduced phase on state of PM at t1 (t2). Obviously, F covers the four encoding operations defined by Eqs (1) and (2).

In this prototype demonstration, the control mode is run after the message mode, rather than using a switch to randomly choose message and control modes. In this mode, we replace DV1 with DH2 then connect DV1 to V or H ports of PBS in part 4 of Fig. 1. This setup allows measuring the travel and home photons in H/V basis at Alice’s and Bob’s sides respectively. And we record the coincidence rates CVH, CVV, CHH and CHV. CVH means the rate of coincidence counts that Alice receives when Bob receives and other coincidence rates have similar meanings. From Eq. (4), we obtain

Finally, substituting , , e and η into Eq. (3), we can calculate the secure key rate R.

Results

Experiment results involve the two-photon interference at BSA, the encoding operation of the message mode and the loss-tolerant tests of the whole system.

In Fig. 2, we vary the path length difference to observe the destructive and full interferences. Denote the coincidence rate ratio CV1H1/CV1H2 by r. Ideally, r = 0 indicates , while r = ∞ means . From Gaussian-fitting curves in Fig. 2, r reaches 0.028 under full interference. And the ratio between the value of CV1H2 under destructive interference and the one under full interference achieves 0.503. Both results show the high reliability of receiving state at BSA, with no Alice’ encoding operations.

In message mode, a phase modulation signal is applied to the PM at Alice’s side. When and reach PM at different times, voltage levels of this signal are VD + V0 and V0 respectively. Accordingly, the introduced phases on and are and respectively, where Vπ is the half-wave voltage (around 16.6 V). Note that the continuous-wave pumped source can not provide any synchronization information. So, we use the 1550-nm coherent pulses to synchronize the SPDs and the pulsed phase modulation voltage in advance. These 1550-nm pulses have the repetition rate of 5 MHz and pulse width (FWHM) of 50 ps.

From Eq. (6) and the initial state of , the two-photon state received by BSA becomes close to

As depicted in Fig. 3, evolutions of CV1H1 and CV1H2 satisfy Eq. (8) as the voltage difference VD varies. Despite the low coincidence rate and short accumulation time, the raw visibility of CV1H1 (CV1H2) achieves 88% (87%). Later, we perform the encoding operations defined by Eqs (1) and (2). Error rates e are listed in Table. 1. Under operations I0 and I1, the dark coincidence rate in CV1H1 is around 0.013 cps, which contributes to an error rate of about 1%. Other error rates mainly come from imperfections of the entanglement source and misalignments of polarization and optical paths during tests. Due to the loss difference after the BS of BSA, error rates under operations I0 and I1 are lower than the ones under Y0 and Y1 , see Fig. 3 and Table. 1.

Table 1 Encoding operations VS settings of V0 and VD.
Full size table

In the loss-tolerant test, we place a variable attenuator VAP into each one of the travel and home free-space channels in Part 1 of Fig. 1. Transmission efficiencies of both VAPs are adjusted to be the almost same value ξ. Just considering the loss, this is equivalent to make η, the transmission efficiency of the backward channel (Alice-Bob), become . During test, the triggering rate of DV1 is reset to be 90 MHz for higher coincidence rates. Since suffers a little higher error rates compared to (see Table. 1), we reinitialize the two-photon state at BSA as to do the worst-case analyses. And Alice’s encoding operation is fixed to I1. The run time of the message mode almost equals the one of the control mode. With the obtained error rate e, η , and , we calculate the secure key rate R according to Eq. (3). As long as R is positive, we can distill secure key from raw key bits.

Loss-tolerant test results are listed in Table 2. As depicted in Fig. 4, these results match theoretical simulations very well. And it is indicated that, when R reaches 0, the equivalent length of the fiber link between Alice and Bob can reach up to 24 km. This shows the feasibility of MPP on fiber transmissions of a few kilometers. The secure key rate (bits per second) is strongly limited by the low raw key rate (coincidences per second). With brighter high-quality entangled photon source, devices with lower losses and better detection methods, secure key rates and transmission distances can be significantly increased.

Table 2 e, and are obtained from coincidence counts accumulated within 8 minutes.
Full size table

Conclusion

Among two-way QKD protocols, original PP protocol is a seminal work, but its applications in real-life world are limited due to its insecurity in lossy channel12,13,14,15,16,17,18. Han et al. modified PP protocol through adding two extra unitary encoding operations37. This novel and feasible modification applies a phase randomization to Eve’s accessed system then cause the decoherence of this system. The loss-tolerant property of MPP motivates us to test it over practical lossy channels.

Actually, in both PP and MPP, the telecom fiber is a natural choice of storing home photons for a long time due to its space saving, low loss and economy. And its advantage of space saving over the free-space channel will become more important once the secure zone of Bob is limited. For future long-haul communications, we decide to realize MPP on telecom fiber. However, Bell-state analyses through interferences require travel and home photons be wavelength degenerate. So, the first obstacle that we face is to create high-bright entangled photon source at degenerate wavelengths within telecom band. Based on the outstanding PPKTP-PSI scheme and through careful adjustment and fine temperature control (with stability of 2 mK), we successfully build the high-quality polarization-entangled photon source at degenerate wavelength of 1560 nm.

Another obstacle comes from birefringence effects and PDL during fiber transmissions, which may render the long-haul transmission of polarization-entangled states impossible. As described above, we design a PSI at Alice’s side. The PSI splits, flips then recombines orthogonal states of travel photons and the PM is placed asymmetrically in PSI to realise multiple encoding operations conveniently. Once Alice compensates the polarization drift from forward transmission (Bob-Alice), we can avoid birefringence effects and PDL during forward and backward transmissions. In a word, our PM-PSI has merits of simplicity and robustness. It may inspire more novel designs for local operations on entangled photon pairs.

Results show the feasibility of MPP over a few kilometers fiber communications. This may find potential applications in inner-city QKD fiber networks. Compared to previous works, our experiment means a meaningful step towards the real-world applications using entanglement-based DQKD. For the future work, the potential of the PP type protocols should be continuously tapped from both physical layers and security layers. More inspirations can be obtained from these methods13,34,35,36 mentioned above to improve the capacity, information gain and security. We believe that our work will offer helpful references for the two-way QKD protocols and encourage deterministic entanglement-based quantum communications.

Additional Information

How to cite this article: Chen, H. et al. Experimental demonstration on the deterministic quantum key distribution based on entangled photons. Sci. Rep. 6, 20962; doi: 10.1038/srep20962 (2016).