One-Time Shot-Noise Unit Calibration Method for Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

Abstract

The shot-noise unit in continuous-variable quantum key distribution plays an important and fundamental role in experimental implementation, as it is used as a normalization parameter that contributes to performing security analyses and distilling key information. However, the traditional calibration procedure and detector model cannot cover all system noise in practical applications, which results in loopholes and influences the practical security. What is more, the traditional procedure is also rather complicated and has difficulty in providing compatibility with automatic operating systems. In this paper, we propose a calibration model based on a proposed trusted detector model, which could naturally close the loopholes in practical applications. It can help to identify the shot-noise unit in only one step, which can not only effectively simplify the evaluation process but also reduce the statistical fluctuations, while two steps are needed in the traditional method. We prove its feasibility and derive a complete version of the corresponding entanglement-based model. A detailed security analysis against arbitrary collective attacks and numerous simulation results in both the asymptotic-limit regime and the finite-size regime are provided. A proof-of-principle experiment is implemented, and the results indicate that our one-time calibration model can be employed as a powerful alternative method for calibrating the shot-noise unit. Our method paves the way for the deployment of continuous-variable quantum key distribution with real-time calibration and automatic operation.