Tayduganov Andrey, Rodimin Vadim, Kiktenko Evgeniy O, Kurochkin Vladimir, Krivoshein Evgeniy, Khanenkov Sergey, Usova Vasilisa, Stefanenko Lyudmila, Kurochkin Yury, Fedorov A K
Opt Express. 2021 Aug 2;29(16):24884-24898. doi: 10.1364/OE.427804.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) networks provide an infrastructure for establishing information-theoretic secure keys between legitimate parties via quantum and authentic classical channels. The deployment of QKD networks in real-world conditions faces several challenges, which are related in particular to the high costs of QKD devices and the condition to provide reasonable secret key rates. In this work, we present a QKD network architecture that provides a significant reduction in the cost of deploying QKD networks by using optical switches and reducing the number of QKD receiver devices, which use single-photon detectors. We describe the corresponding modification of the QKD network protocol. We also provide estimations for a network link of a total of 670 km length consisting of 8 nodes and demonstrate that the switch-based architecture achieves significant resource savings of up to 28%, while the throughput is reduced by 8% only.
量子密钥分发（QKD）网络提供了一种基础设施，用于通过量子和可信经典信道在合法方之间建立信息理论安全的密钥。在现实条件下部署QKD网络面临若干挑战，这些挑战尤其与QKD设备的高成本以及提供合理密钥率的条件有关。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种QKD网络架构，该架构通过使用光开关并减少使用单光子探测器的QKD接收设备数量，显著降低了部署QKD网络的成本。我们描述了QKD网络协议的相应修改。我们还对一个由8个节点组成、总长度为670公里的网络链路进行了估计，并证明基于开关的架构可实现高达28%的显著资源节省，而吞吐量仅降低8%。
