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Zahidy M, Ribezzo D, De Lazzari C, Vagniluca I, Biagi N, Müller R, Occhipinti T, Oxenløwe LK, Galili M, Hayashi T, Cassioli D, Mecozzi A, Antonelli C, Zavatta A, Bacco D. Practical high-dimensional quantum key distribution protocol over deployed multicore fiber. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1651. [PMID: 38395964 PMCID: PMC10891113 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45876-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication scheme for sharing symmetric cryptographic keys based on the laws of quantum physics, and is considered a key player in the realm of cyber-security. A critical challenge for QKD systems comes from the fact that the ever-increasing rates at which digital data are transmitted require more and more performing sources of quantum keys, primarily in terms of secret key generation rate. High-dimensional QKD based on path encoding has been proposed as a candidate approach to address this challenge. However, while proof-of-principle demonstrations based on lab experiments have been reported in the literature, demonstrations in realistic environments are still missing. Here we report the generation of secret keys in a 4-dimensional hybrid time-path-encoded QKD system over a 52-km deployed multicore fiber link forming by looping back two cores of a 26-km 4-core optical fiber. Our results indicate that robust high-dimensional QKD can be implemented in a realistic environment by combining standard telecom equipment with emerging multicore fiber technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mujtaba Zahidy
- Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Pl., Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Domenico Ribezzo
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-INO), Firenze, 50125, Italy
- University of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Ronny Müller
- Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Pl., Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | | | - Leif K Oxenløwe
- Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Pl., Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Michael Galili
- Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Pl., Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Tetsuya Hayashi
- Optical Communications Laboratory, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Yokohama, 244-8588, Japan
| | - Dajana Cassioli
- Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- National Laboratory of Advanced Optical Fibers for Photonics (FIBERS), CNIT, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Antonio Mecozzi
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- National Laboratory of Advanced Optical Fibers for Photonics (FIBERS), CNIT, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Cristian Antonelli
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- National Laboratory of Advanced Optical Fibers for Photonics (FIBERS), CNIT, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zavatta
- Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-INO), Firenze, 50125, Italy
- QTI S.r.l., Firenze, 50125, Italy
| | - Davide Bacco
- QTI S.r.l., Firenze, 50125, Italy.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Via Sansone 1, Firenze, 50019, Italy.
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