Experimental demonstration of fully passive quantum key distribution

Abstract

The passive approach to quantum key distribution (QKD) consists of removing all active modulation from the users' devices, a highly desirable countermeasure to get rid of modulator side-channels. Nevertheless, active modulation has not been completely removed in QKD systems so far, due to both theoretical and practical limitations. In this work, we present a fully passive time-bin encoding QKD system and report on the successful implementation of a modulator-free QKD link. According to the latest theoretical analysis, our prototype is capable of delivering competitive secret key rates in the finite key regime.