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Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with q-plate

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Abstract

The original measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution is reviewed and a modified protocol using rotation invariant photonic state is proposed. A hybrid encoding approach combined polarization qubit with orbit angular momentum qubit is adopted to overcome the polarization misalignment associated with random rotations in long-distance quantum key distribution. The initial encoding and final decoding of information in our MDI-QKD implementation protocol can be conveniently performed in the polarization space, while the transmission is done in the rotation invariant hybrid space. Our analysis indicates that both the secure key rate and transmission distance can be improved with our modified protocol owing to the lower quantum bit error rate. Furthermore, our hybrid encoding approach only needs to insert four q-plates in practical experiment and to overcome the polarization misalignment problem mentioned above without including any feedback control.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank S. H. Sun for many helpful advices. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61106068).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Information and Navigation, Xi’an, 710077, China

    Dong Chen, Zhao Shang-Hong & Sun Ying

  2. Xi’an Communication College, Xi’an, 710006, China

    Dong Chen

Authors
  1. Dong Chen
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  2. Zhao Shang-Hong
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  3. Sun Ying
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Correspondence to Dong Chen.

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Chen, D., Shang-Hong, Z. & Ying, S. Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with q-plate. Quantum Inf Process 14, 4575–4584 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-015-1147-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-015-1147-1

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