Deployed trusted-node quantum key distribution over 300 km with a multi-core fiber access link
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Quantum Physics
Title:Deployed trusted-node quantum key distribution over 300 km with a multi-core fiber access link
Abstract:Quantum key distribution (QKD) is increasingly considered for deployment in realistic communication networks, where long distances, heterogeneous fiber infrastructure, and coexistence with classical traffic present substantial challenges. Here, we demonstrate trusted-node QKD between Linköping University and the Stockholm hub of the Swedish national quantum communication infrastructure over 270 km of deployed single-mode fiber, extended by a 33 km multi-core fiber (MCF) segment emulating a metropolitan access link, for a total distance of 303 km. The two sub-links use commercial QKD systems whose receivers are interfaced with external superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, enabling operation at losses beyond those supported by standard internal gated-mode detectors. We operate the link while actively switching the QKD channel between two MCF cores, with co-propagating Ethernet traffic and injected broadband optical noise in the other cores. The results demonstrate the integration of commercial QKD into demanding, dynamically reconfigurable fiber infrastructure relevant to future hybrid quantum-classical networks. Finally, using the generated secret keys, we illustrate how limited and time-varying QKD throughput affects one-time-pad-protected image transmission: image fidelity depends strongly on the available QKD-generated key budget and the choice of compression algorithm, highlighting application-level challenges for QKD-based encryption in realistic scenarios.
| Comments: | 11 pages, 4 figures |
| Subjects: | Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Information Theory (cs.IT); Machine Learning (cs.LG); Image and Video Processing (eess.IV); Optics (physics.optics) |
| Cite as: | arXiv:2606.06107 [quant-ph] |
| (or arXiv:2606.06107v1 [quant-ph] for this version) | |
| https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.06107
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
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