Experimental Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution with Simplicity and Practical Security

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06772v1
• Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2026 04:09:37 GMT
• Title: Experimental Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution with Simplicity and Practical Security
• Authors: Xiao-Yu Cao, Xiao-Ran Sun, Ming-Yang Li, Yu-Shuo Lu, Hua-Lei Yin, Zeng-Bing Chen,
• Abstract summary: We propose and experimentally demonstrate an information-theoretically secure COW-QKD protocol that can resist source side-channel attacks.<n>Our system achieves a secure key rate on the order of kilobits per second over 50 km in the finite-size regime.<n>Results confirm that COW-QKD can simultaneously provide simplicity and security, establishing it as a strong candidate for deployment in small-scale quantum networks.
• Score: 10.836437704201915
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Coherent one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD) has been widely investigated, and even been deployed in real-world quantum network. However, the proposal of the zero-error attack has critically undermined its security guarantees, and existing experimental implementations have not yet established security against coherent attacks. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an information-theoretically secure COW-QKD protocol that can resist source side-channel attacks, with secure transmission distances up to 100 km. Our system achieves a secure key rate on the order of kilobits per second over 50 km in the finite-size regime, sufficient for real-time secure voice communication across metropolitan networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate the encrypted transmission of a logo with information-theoretic security over 100 km of optical fiber. These results confirm that COW-QKD can simultaneously provide simplicity and security, establishing it as a strong candidate for deployment in small-scale quantum networks.

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