Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) has potential advantages of high secret key rate, which is very suitable for high-speed metropolitan network application. However, the secret key rates of the reported CVQKD systems are only a few Mbps over typical transmission distance so far. Here, we address the fundamental experimental problems and demonstrate a single-carrier four-state CVQKD with sub-Gbps key rate within metropolitan area. In the demonstrated four-state CVQKD using local local oscillator, an ultra-low level of excess noise is obtained and a high efficient post-processing setup is designed for practically extracting the final secure keys. Thus, the achieved secret key rates are 190.54 Mbps, 137.76 Mbps and 52.48 Mbps using linear channel assuming security analysis method and 233.87 Mbps, 133.6 Mbps and 21.53 Mbps using semidefinite programming security analysis method over transmission distances of 5 km, 10 km and 25 km, respectively. This result increases the asymptotic secret key rate to sub-Gbps level, which is sufficient to achieve the one-time pad cryptographic task. Moreover, our work shows the road for future high-rate and large-scale CVQKD deployment in secure broadband metropolitan and access networks.

A high-rate continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) system based on high-order discrete modulation is experimentally investigated. With the help of the novel system scheme, effective digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms and advanced analytical security proof methods, the transmission results of 5.059 km, 10.314 km, 24.490 km, and 50.592 km are achieved for 1 GBaud optimized quantum signals. Correspondingly, the asymptotic secret key rates (SKRs) are 292.185 Mbps, 156.246 Mbps, 50.491 Mbps, and 7.495 Mbps for discrete Gaussian (DG) 64QAM, and 328.297 Mbps, 176.089 Mbps, 51.304 Mbps, and 9.193 Mbps for DG 256QAM, respectively. Under the same parameters, the achieved SKRs of DG 256QAM is almost same as ideal Gaussian modulation. In this case, the demonstrated high-rate discrete-modulated CV-QKD system has the application potential for high-speed security communication under tens of kilometers.

Private query is a kind of cryptographic protocols to protect both users' privacies in their communication. For instance, Alice wants to buy one item from Bob's database. The aim of private query is to ensure that Alice can get only one item from Bob, and simultaneously, Bob cannot know which one was taken by Alice. In pursuing high security and efficiency, some quantum private query protocols were proposed. As a practical model, Quantum-Oblivious-Key-Transfer (QOKT)-based private query, which utilizes a QOKT protocol to distribute oblivious key between Alice and Bob and then applies the key to achieve the aim of private query, has drawn much attention. Here, we focus on postprocessing of the oblivious key, and the following two contributions are achieved. 1) We analyze three recently proposed dilution methods and find two of them have serious security loophole. That is, Alice can illegally obtain much additional information about Bob's database by multiple queries. For example, Alice can obtain the whole database, which contains 10 ⁴ items, by only 53.4 queries averagely. 2) We present an effective error-correction method for the oblivious key, which can address the realistic scenario with channel noises and make QOKT-based private query more practical.