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Improve the performance of reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with heralded single-photon sources

  • Regular Article – Quantum Information
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Abstract

The performance degradation of reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-MDI-QKD) protocol caused by the finite key size effect impedes its practical implementation. The protocol utilizes the double-scanning method, which makes it possible to precisely estimate both the counts of single-photon pairs and the phase-flip error. This method effectively counteracts the statistical fluctuation brought on by the finite key size effect. Based on this method, we propose a scheme in this work that substitutes heralded single-photon sources (HSPS) for weak coherent sources (WCS), and we compare the performance of the two schemes by calculating the key rate. The RFI-MDI-QKD using HSPS, according to the results of the simulation, has a lower key rate than the RFI-MDI-QKD using WCS, but it also has a longer transmission distance and a more noticeable improvement in transmission distance at larger rotation angles. Thus, we demonstrate that the RFI-MDI-QKD protocol, based on the double-scanning method and using HSPS, has promising future application potential.

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Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Author’s comment: The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.]

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude for financial support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities No. 2019XD-A02, and the State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications) No. IPOC2021ZT10.

Funding

This study was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities No. 2019XD-A02, and the State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications) No. IPOC2021ZT10.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. School of Science and State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optica Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

      Ling Zhou, Zhenhua Li, Jipeng Wang, Zhongqi Sun, Yue Li & Haiqiang Ma

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    1. Ling Zhou
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    Contributions

    LZ performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript; ZL contributed significantly to the analysis and manuscript preparation; JW and ZS contributed to the conception of the study; YL helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; HM approved the final submission of the manuscript.

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    Correspondence to Haiqiang Ma.

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    Zhou, L., Li, Z., Wang, J. et al. Improve the performance of reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with heralded single-photon sources. Eur. Phys. J. D 77, 156 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-023-00737-y

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