Rate-Adaptive Polar-Coding-Based Reconciliation for Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution at Low Signal-to-Noise Ratio

Information reconciliation significantly impacts the performance of the practical continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) system. Fixed-rate error-correction codes limit the potential applica-tions of the CV QKD because they lead to reduced reconciliation efficiency when the signal-to-noise ratio of the quantum channel changes, further deteriorating the system's performance. Therefore, we propose a rate-adaptive polar-coding-based reconciliation scheme for practical CV QKD systems with the time -variant quantum channel. Experimental results verify that the proposed scheme can successfully extract secret keys within the range of signal-to-noise ratios from -0.5 to -4.5 dB, and the minimum frame-error rate can be less than 10-3. Moreover, the proposed scheme can promote the application of the CV QKD system in a realistic environment.

Automated summary

Information reconciliation has a significant impact on the performance of practical continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) systems. Fixed-rate error-correction codes limit the potential applications of CV QKD due to decreased reconciliation efficiency with changing signal-to-noise ratio in the quantum channel, leading to deteriorated system performance. Therefore, we propose a rate-adaptive polar-coding-based reconciliation scheme for practical CV QKD systems with time-variant quantum channels. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can successfully extract secret keys within the signal-to-noise ratio range of -0.5 to -4.5 dB, and the minimum frame-error rate can be less than 10-3. Moreover, the proposed scheme can promote the application of CV QKD systems in realistic environments.