  Existing experimental implementations of continuous-variable quantum key
distribution require shot-noise limited operation, achieved with shot-noise
limited lasers. However, loosening this requirement on the laser source would
allow for cheaper, potentially integrated systems. Here, we implement a
theoretically proposed prepare-and-measure continuous-variable protocol and
experimentally demonstrate the robustness of it against preparation noise
stemming for instance from technical laser noise. Provided that direct
reconciliation techniques are used in the post-processing we show that for
small distances large amounts of preparation noise can be tolerated in contrast
to reverse reconciliation where the key rate quickly drops to zero. Our
experiment thereby demonstrates that quantum key distribution with
non-shot-noise limited laser diodes might be feasible.
