High-rate quantum key distribution with compact state preparation and detection
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a promising technology for information-theoretic secure communications. The practicality of QKD systems is critical for large-scale network deployment, requiring both high key generation rate and miniaturized modules for quantum-state preparation and detection. Here, we report a deployable QKD system that achieves secure key rates of 60.33 ± 0.03 Mbps at 10 km and 3.08 ± 0.20 Mbps at 100 km. The system integrates a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder encoder to achieve high-fidelity, unified preparation of polarization and decoy states via single-step modulation in a compact design. Meanwhile, we developed miniaturized single-photon avalanche detectors operating at 2.5 GHz, achieving high count rates while maintaining low noise. This high-performance and compact solution establishes a feasible roadmap for urban secure communication networks that require high capacity and bandwidth.
Authors
- Yue Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0098-5359)
- Xiaojuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0590-7229)
- Wei-Xin Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4946-7522)
- Guo G
- De-Yong He
- Qiong Li
- Guan-Jie Fan-Yuan
- Zheng-Fu Han
- Hao-Kun Mao
- Shuang Wang
- Wei Chen
- Guo-Wei Zhang
- Zhen-Qiang Yin
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Harbin Institute of Technology (CN)
- Hefei University (CN)
- DigitalSpace (United States) (US)
- Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2026-04-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2521590123
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities