Homodyne Detection Quadrature Phase Shift Keying Continuous-Variable Quantum key Distribution with High Excess Noise Tolerance

• Published in: PRX Quantum
• Main Authors: Wen-Bo Liu, Chen-Long Li, Yuan-Mei Xie, Chen-Xun Weng, Jie Gu, Xiao-Yu Cao, Yu-Shuo Lu, Bing-Hong Li, Hua-Lei Yin, Zeng-Bing Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society 2021-11-01
• Online Access: http://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.2.040334

Discrete-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution with homodyne detection is widely recognized for its ease of implementation, efficiency with respect to error correction, and its compatibility with modern optical communication devices. However, recent studies report that the application of homodyne detection obtains poor tolerance to excess noise and insufficient transmission distance, hence seriously restricting the large-scale deployment of quantum secure communication networks. In this paper, we propose a homodyne detection protocol using the quadrature phase shift keying technique. By limiting information leakage, our proposed protocol enhances excess noise tolerance to a high level. Furthermore, we demonstrate that homodyne detection performs better than heterodyne detection in quaternary-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution under the untrusted detector noise scenario. The security is analyzed using the tight numerical method against collective attacks in the asymptotic regime. Our results imply that the current protocol can distribute keys in nearly intercity area and, thus, paves the way for constructing low-cost quantum secure communication networks.