Controlling a sine wave gating single-photon detector by exploiting its filtering loophole**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61605248 and 61505261).

Abstract

GHz single-photon detector (SPD) is a crucial part in the practical high speed quantum key distribution (QKD) system. However, any imperfections in a practical QKD system may be exploited by an eavesdropper (Eve) to collect information about the key without being discovered. The sine wave gating SPD (SG-SPD) based on InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode, one kind of practical high speed SPD, may also contain loopholes. In this paper, we study the principle and characteristic of the SG-SPD and find out the filtering loophole of the SG-SPD for the first time. What is more, the proof-of-principle experiment shows that Eve could blind and control Bob’s SG-SPD by exploiting this loophole. We believe that giving enough attention to this loophole can improve the practical security of the existing QKD system.