Detection-time-bin-shift schemes for polarization encoding Quantum Key Distribution system

Detection-time-bin-shift (DTBS) is a scheme that projects the measurement bases or measured photon values into detection time-bins and then time division multiplexes a single photon detector in a quantum key distribution (QKD) system. This scheme can simplify the structure of a QKD system, reduce its cost and overcome the security problems caused by the dead-time introduced self-correlation and the unbalanced characteristics of detectors. In this paper, we present several DTBS schemes for QKD systems based on attenuated laser pulses and entangled photon sources. We study the security issues of these DTBS schemes, especially the time-bin-shift intercept-resend attack and its countermeasures. A fiber-based DTBS QKD system has been developed and its results are presented in this paper.