Experimental Asynchronous Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Cryptographic Conferencing
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 120802 – Published 14 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/k9k1-6281
Abstract
The quantum cryptographic conferencing (QCC) protocol, which distributes identical secure keys to user groups, is a crucial component of the quantum network. Previous experimental works have implemented the measurement-device-independent (MDI) QCC, of which the key rate in an -user network scales as . Building on the MDI QCC protocol, the asynchronous MDI QCC protocol theoretically integrates the mode-pairing scheme into QCC, significantly boosting the key rate to in the ideal case, which is independent of the number of users, thus demonstrating greater application potential. Experimentally, in this Letter, we implement the three-user asynchronous MDI QCC network without phase locking by adopting the fast Fourier transform-based frequency difference estimation and the phase drift compensation technique. Finally, we achieve a key rate of about per pulse under a maximum overall loss of about 59.6 dB. This Letter provides a scalable solution for the development of large-scale quantum communication networks in the future.