NIST’s Quantum Information Network (QuIN) testbed project has progressed through several key phases, with notable achievements in each:
Phase I focused on the initial architectural design of the system, including high-speed electronics, circuit board fabrication, and basic upper layer software for system control and management of secrets.
Phase III involved integrating NIST’s custom high-speed electronics with the quantum devices, optics, and communications software algorithms, resulting in a preliminary 1 Mb/s sifted key rate.
Phase IV saw significant performance improvements, with a polarization-encoded fiber-based QKD system achieving over 4 Mb/s sifted key rate and 1 Mb/s privacy-amplified secure key over 1km of fiber.
The fiber-based QKD system uses two telecom fibers for quantum and classical channels, with four silicon-based single photon detectors. The system generates 4 Mbit/s of sifted key over 1km of fiber and 0.1 Mbit/s over 8km, enabling real-time QKD secure key generation for continuous web-quality video encryption and transmission over the internet.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/itl/earlyphases
Keywords: Quantum, Key, Distribution, Protocol, Encryption
