Abstract
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) has received much attention, with the goal of overcoming all of the security loopholes caused by an imperfect detection system. We here propose a plug-and-play MDI-QKD (P&P MDI-QKD) scheme whereby an untrusted relay node, Charlie, owns a laser and sends photons to Alice and Bob. Alice (Bob) modulates the polarization of the incident photons and returns them to Charlie. Charlie uses a modified Bell state analyzer (BSA) to perform Bell state measurements (BSM). In comparison with the original version of MDI-QKD, our scheme exploits a single untrusted laser as the photon source. This makes the signal photons identical and enhances the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect. Second, because of the P&P structure, the setup can automatically eliminate the birefringence influence of the fibers, which makes the setup highly stable. Finally, our modified BSA can identify \({{\left| \varPhi \right\rangle }^{+}}\) and \({{\left| \varPhi \right\rangle }^{-}}\) of four Bell states with polarization encoding but not \({{\left| \varPsi \right\rangle }^{+}}\) and \({{\left| \varPsi \right\rangle }^{-}}\). Based on practical experimental parameters, a simulation showed that the maximum theoretical secure transmission distance could reach more 280 km.
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Acknowledgements
This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61572203); the Open Research Fund (Grant No. KQI201508) of the Key Lab of Quantum Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences; the Open Research Fund (Grant No. SKLST201602) of the State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Guangdong Innovative Research Team Program (Grant No. 201001D0104799318).
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Hu, M., Zhang, L., Guo, B. et al. Polarization-based plug-and-play measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution. Opt Quant Electron 51, 22 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-018-1736-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-018-1736-1