Long distance local local oscillator continuous variable quantum key distribution with digital signal processing

Abstract: Quantum key distribution relying on the principles of quantum mechanics enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key, thereby ensuring the security of data transmission. Continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) is widely applied because it can be well combined with standard telecommunication technology. Compared to CV-QKD with a transmitting local oscillator, the proposal of CV-QKD with a local local oscillator overcomes the limitation that local oscillator will attenuate as transmission distance increases, providing new possibilities in long-distance transmission. However, challenges still persist in practical long-distance transmission, including data sampling and recovery under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions. In order to better recover data and reduce the additional excess noise, we propose the least squares fitting algorithm to get more accurate sampling data and complete more accurate phase compensation.Herein, we demonstrate the long-distance local local oscillator CV-QKD experiment which have considered the effect of finite-size block over 120 km of standard optical fiber with high efficient real-time post-processing. The results not only verify the good performance of the system over long distance, but also paves the way for large-scale quantum secure communications in the future.