Overcoming noise limitations in quantum key distribution with quantum privacy amplification

High-quality, distributed quantum entanglement is the distinctive resource for quantum communication and forms the foundation for the unequaled level of security that can be assured in quantum key distribution. While the entanglement provider does not need to be trusted, the secure key rate drops to zero if the entanglement used is too noisy. In this paper, we show experimentally that QPA is able to increase the secure key rate achievable with QKD by improving the quality of distributed entanglement, thus increasing the quantum advantage in QKD. Beyond that, we show that QPA enables key generation at noise levels that previously prevented key generation. These remarkable results were only made possible by the efficient implementation exploiting hyperentanglement in the polarization and energy-time degrees of freedom. We provide a detailed characterization of the gain in secure key rate achieved in our proof-of- principle experiment at different noise levels. The results are paramount for the implementation of a global quantum network linking quantum processors and ensuring future-proof data security.