Xinhua All Media+丨Chinese scientists set a new record to achieve 100Mbit rate quantum key distribution
Xinhua News Agency, Hefei, March 14 (Reporters Xu Haitao and Dai Wei) The quantum key distribution technology derived from the principle of quantum mechanics can realize unconditionally secure and secure communication in principle.
Recently, Academician Pan Jianwei and Professor Xu Feihu of the University of Science and Technology of China have developed key technologies such as high-speed and high-fidelity integrated photonics quantum state control, high-count rate superconducting single-photon detection, etc., to achieve real-time quantum key distribution at a 100-megabit rate , raising the international coding rate record by an order of magnitude, which is of great significance to the large-scale application of quantum communication in the future.
On March 14, the internationally renowned academic journal "Nature Photonics" published the achievement.
High bit rate quantum key distribution device diagram.
(Photo provided by University of Science and Technology of China)
Improving the coding rate of quantum key distribution plays a very important role in the practical application of quantum secure communication.
Previously, under the 10-kilometer standard optical fiber channel, the highest real-time coding rate in the international academic community was 10 megabits per second.
In order to achieve a higher key rate, it is necessary to break through multiple technical bottlenecks such as the sending end, receiving end, and post-processing of the system.
Recently, the research group of Pan Jianwei and Xu Feihu cooperated with researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology and other units to develop a high-speed and high-fidelity polarization state modulation technology on an integrated photonic chip. The eight-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector newly developed by Yu Lixing's team at the Institute of Microsystems has achieved high count rate and high-efficiency single-photon detection.
On the basis of the above technological breakthroughs, the research team achieved a key rate of 115.8 megabits per second under a 10-kilometer standard fiber channel, which is about an order of magnitude higher than the previous record.
The system has been running stably for more than 50 hours, and the code rate exceeds 200 bits per second at a transmission distance of 328 kilometers.
According to the researchers, the results of this research show that quantum key distribution can realize real-time key distribution at a 100-megabit rate and meet the needs of high-bandwidth communication, which is of great significance to the large-scale practical application of quantum communication in the future.