Bio
Dr Lai Zhou is an Associate Researcher at the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Tsinghua University and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on long-distance quantum key distribution and quantum networks. He has published in several journals, including Physical Review X, Physical Review Letters, and Nature Communications. Dr. Zhou has also served on the Program Committee of QCrypt in both 2024 and 2025.
Abstract
Owing to its repeaterlike rate-loss scaling, twin-field quantum key distribution (TF-QKD) has repeatedly exhibited in the laboratory its superiority for secure communication over record fiber lengths. Field trials pose a new set of challenges, however, which must be addressed before the technology’s roll-out into the real world. Here, we verify in the field the viability of using independent optical frequency combs, installed at sites separated by a straight-line distance of 300 km, to achieve a versatile TF-QKD setup that has no need for optical frequency dissemination and thus enables an open and network-friendly fiber configuration. Our work represents an important step toward incorporation of long-haul fiber links into large quantum networks.