Performance influence on reference-frame-independent quantum key distributions with detection imperfections

The detection part plays a considerable role in quantum key distributions (QKD). However, in practical applications, the imperfections of detectors compromise the performance and security of QKD systems, especially when moving into the Gigahertz regime. In this work, we mainly study the impact of afterpulse and dead-time on the key rate of reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) systems. Our simulation results show that the dead-time and the afterpulse effects have significant influences on the key rate at both short and long transmission distances. The present work may provide valuable references for constructing QKD network under practical environments and setups.