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Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can eliminate all detector side-channel loopholes and has shown excellent performance in long-distance secret keys sharing. Conventional security proofs, however, require additional assumptions on sources and that can be compromised through uncharacterized side channels in practice. Here, we present a general formalism based on reference technique to prove the security of MDI-QKD against any possible sources imperfection and/or side channels. With this formalism, we investigate the asymptotic performance of single-photon sources without any extra assumptions on the state preparations. Our results highlight the importance of transmitters' security., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, comments are welcome

The measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can be immune to all detector side-channel attacks. Moreover, it can be easily implemented combining with the matured decoy-state methods under current technology. It thus seems a very promising candidate in practical implementation of quantum communications. However, it suffers from severe finite-data-size effect in most existing MDI-QKD protocols, resulting in relatively low key rates. Recently, Jiang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 103, 012402 (2021)] proposed a double-scanning method to drastically increase the key rate of MDI-QKD. Based on Jiang et al.'s theoretical work, here we for the first time implement the double-scanning method into MDI-QKD and carry out corresponding experimental demonstration. With a moderate number of pulses of 10^10, we can achieve 150 km secure transmission distance which is impossible with all former methods. Therefore, our present work paves the way towards practical implementation of MDI-QKD., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Digital signature is a key technique in information security, especially for identity authentications. Compared with classical correspondence, quantum digital signatures (QDSs) provide a considerably higher level of security, i.e., information-theoretic security. At present, its performance is limited by key generation protocols (e.g., BB84 or measurement-device-independent protocols), which are fundamentally limited in terms of channel capacity. Fortunately, the recently proposed twin-field quantum key distribution can overcome this limit. This paper presents a twin-field QDS protocol and details a corresponding security analysis. In its distribution stage, a specific key generation protocol, the sending-or-not-sending twin-field protocol, has been adopted and full parameter optimization method has been implemented. Numerical simulation results show that the new protocol exhibits outstanding security and practicality compared with all other existing protocols. Therefore, the new protocol paves the way toward real-world applications of QDSs, Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

Quantum digital signature (QDS) guarantee the unforgeability, nonrepudiation and transferability of signature messages with information-theoretical security, and hence has attracted much attention recently. However, most previous implementations of QDS showed relatively low signature rates or/and short transmission distance. In this paper, we report a proof-of-principle phase-encoding QDS demonstration using only one decoy state. Firstly, such method avoids the modulation of vacuum state, thus reducing experimental complexity and random number consumption. Moreover, incorporating with low-loss asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers and real-time polarization calibration technique, we have successfully achieved higher signature rate, e.g., 0.98 bit/s at 103 km, and to date a record-breaking transmission distance over 280-km installed fibers. Our work represents a significant step towards real-world applications of QDS., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

The measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol plays an important role in quantum communications due to its high level of security and practicability. It can be immune to all side-channel attacks directed on the detecting devices. However, the protocol still contains strict requirements during state preparation in most existing MDI-QKD schemes, e.g., perfect state preparation or perfectly characterized sources, which are very hard to realize in practice. In this letter, we investigate uncharacterized MDI-QKD by utilizing a three-state method, greatly reducing the finite-size effect. The only requirement for state preparation is that the state are prepared in a bidimensional Hilbert space. Furthermore, a proof-of-principle demonstration over a 170 km transmission distance is achieved, representing the longest transmission distance under the same security level on record., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

The measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) possesses the highest security among all practical quantum key distribution protocols. However, existing multi-intensity decoy-state methods may cause loopholes when modulating light intensities with practical devices. In this paper, we propose a passive decoy-state MDI-QKD protocol based on a novel structure of heralded single-photon sources. It does not need to modulate the light source into different intensities and thus can avoid leaking modulation information of decoy states to eavesdroppers, enhancing the security of practical MDI-QKD. Furthermore, by combining the passive decoy states and biased basis choices, our protocol can exhibit distinct advantages compared with state-of-the art MDI-QKD schemes even when the finite key-size effect is taken into account. Therefore, our present passive decoy-state MDI-QKD seems a promising candidate for practical implementation of quantum key distributions in the near future.

A high-efficiency fast neutron detector prototype based on a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector, which coupled with a novel multi-layered High-Density PolyEthylene (HDPE) as a neutron-to-proton converter for improving the neutron detection efficiency, is introduced and tested with the Am-Be neutron source in Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) at Lanzhou in present work. Firstly, the developed triple GEM detector is tested by measuring its effective gain and energy resolution with $^{55}$Fe X-ray source to ensure that it has a good performance. The effective gain and obtained energy resolution is 5.0$\times$10$^{4}$ and around of 19.2\%, respectively. And secondly, the novel multi-layered HDPE converter is coupled with the cathode of the triple GEM detector make it a high-effective fast neutron detector. And its effective neutron response is four times higher than that of the traditional single-layered conversion technique when the converter layer number is 38., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures