Experimental demonstration of a quantum key distribution without signal disturbance monitoring

In existing quantum key distribution protocols, two legitimate peers, Alice and Bob, must monitor the signal disturbance to place a bound on the potential information leakage. However, in the round-robin differential phase shift (RRDPS) protocol, monitoring of the signal disturbance is unnecessary. Here, we present the first active implementation of the RRDPS protocol. In our experiment, Alice prepares packets of pulses, where each packet is a train with 65 pulses and the global phase of each packet is randomized. Bob uses a novel actively controlled variable-delay interferometer to realize the random switching of different delays. Benefiting from the large pulse number of each packet, and the high stability and low insertion loss of the interferometer, the system can distribute a secret key over a distance of 90 km. Our experimental demonstration and results confirm the feasibility of the RRDPS protocol, particularly in high-error situations.