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arXiv:1401.6859 · Physical Review A

Secret key rates for an encoded quantum repeater

Sylvia Bratzik, Hermann Kampermann, Dagmar Bruß

Published Mar 31, 2014• 26 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate secret key rates for the quantum repeater using encoding [L. Jiang et al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 032325 (2009)] and compare them to the standard repeater scheme by Briegel, D\"ur, Cirac, and Zoller. The former scheme has the advantage of a minimal consumption of classical communication. We analyze the trade-off in the secret key rate between the communication time and the required resources. For this purpose we introduce an error model for the repeater using encoding which allows for input Bell states with a fidelity smaller than one, in contrast to the model given by L. Jiang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 79, 032325 (2009)]. We show that one can correct additional errors in the encoded connection procedure of this repeater and develop a suitable decoding algorithm. Furthermore, we derive the rate of producing entangled pairs for the quantum repeater using encoding and give the minimal parameter values (gate quality and initial fidelity) for establishing a nonzero secret key. We find that the generic quantum repeater is optimal regarding the secret key rate per memory per second and show that the encoded quantum repeater using the simple three-qubit repetition code can even have an advantage with respect to the resources compared to other recent quantum repeater schemes with encoding.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.032335

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We investigate secret key rates for the quantum repeater using encoding [L. Jiang et al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 032325 (2009)] and compare them to the standard repeater scheme by Briegel, D"ur, Cirac, and Zoller. The former scheme has the advantage of a minimal consumption of classical communication. We analyze the trade-off in the secret key rate between the communication time and the required resources. For this purpose we introduce an error model for the repeater using encoding which allows for input Bell states with a fidelity smaller than one, in contrast to the model given by L. Jiang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 79, 032325 (2009)]. We show that one can correct additional errors in the encoded connection procedure of this repeater and develop a suitable decoding algorithm. Furthermore, we derive the rate of producing entangled pairs for the quantum repeater using encoding and give the minimal parameter values (gate quality and initial fidelity) for establishing a nonzero secret key. We find that the generic quantum repeater is optimal regarding the secret key rate per memory per second and show that the encoded quantum repeater using the simple three-qubit repetition code can even have an advantage with respect to the resources compared to other recent quantum repeater schemes with encoding.
We study the implementation of quantum-key-distribution (QKD) systems over quantum-repeater infrastructures. We particularly consider quantum repeaters with encoding and compare them with probabilistic quantum repeaters. To that end, we propose two decoder structures for encoded repeaters that not only aid system performance but also make the implementation aspects easier by removing two-qubit gates from the QKD decoder. By developing several scalable numerical and analytical techniques, we then identify the resilience of the setup to various sources of error in gates, measurement modules, and initialization of the setup. We apply our techniques to three- and five-qubit repetition codes and obtain the normalized secret key generation rate per memory per second for encoded and probabilistic quantum repeaters. We quantify the regimes of operation, where one class of repeater outperforms the other, and find that there are feasible regimes of operation where encoded repeaters—based on simple three-qubit repetition codes—could offer practical advantages.
We analyze various prominent quantum repeater protocols in the context of long-distance quantum key distribution. These protocols are the original quantum repeater proposal by Briegel, D\"ur, Cirac and Zoller, the so-called hybrid quantum repeater using optical coherent states dispersively interacting with atomic spin qubits, and the Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller-type repeater using atomic ensembles together with linear optics and, in its most recent extension, heralded qubit amplifiers. For our analysis, we investigate the most important experimental parameters of every repeater component and find their minimally required values for obtaining a nonzero secret key. Additionally, we examine in detail the impact of device imperfections on the final secret key rate and on the optimal number of rounds of distillation when the entangled states are purified right after their initial distribution.
We study the implementation of quantum-key-distribution (QKD) systems over quantum-repeater infrastructures. We particularly consider quantum repeaters with encoding and compare them with probabilistic quantum repeaters. To that end, we propose two decoder structures for encoded repeaters that not only aid system performance but also make the implementation aspects easier by removing two-qubit gates from the QKD decoder. By developing several scalable numerical and analytical techniques, we then identify the resilience of the setup to various sources of error in gates, measurement modules, and initialization of the setup. We apply our techniques to three- and five-qubit repetition codes and obtain the normalized secret key generation rate per memory per second for encoded and probabilistic quantum repeaters. We quantify the regimes of operation, where one class of repeater outperforms the other, and find that there are feasible regimes of operation where encoded repeaters---based on simple three-qubit repetition codes---could offer practical advantages.
The device-independent approach to quantum key distribution (QKD) aims to establish a secret key between two or more parties with untrusted devices, potentially under full control of a quantum adversary. The performance of a QKD protocol can be quantified by the secret key rate, which can be lower bounded via the violation of an appropriate Bell inequality in a setup with untrusted devices. We study secret key rates in the device-independent scenario for different quantum repeater setups and compare them to their device-dependent analogon. The quantum repeater setups under consideration are the original protocol by Briegel et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5932 (1998)] and the hybrid quantum repeater protocol by van Loock et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 240501 (2006)]. For a given repeater scheme and a given QKD protocol, the secret key rate depends on a variety of parameters, such as the gate quality or the detector efficiency. We systematically analyze the impact of these parameters and suggest optimized strategies.
Quantum communication enables the implementation of tasks that are unachievable with classical resources. However, losses on the communication channel preclude the direct long-distance transmission of quantum information in many relevant scenarios. In principle, quantum repeaters allow one to overcome losses. However, realistic hardware parameters make long-distance quantum communication a challenge in practice. For instance, in many protocols an entangled pair is generated that needs to wait in quantum memory until the generation of an additional pair. During this waiting time the first pair decoheres, impacting the quality of the final entanglement produced. At the cost of a lower rate, this effect can be mitigated by imposing a cutoff condition. For instance, a maximum storage time for entanglement after which it is discarded. In this article, we optimize the cutoffs for quantum repeater chains. First, we develop an algorithm for computing the probability distribution of the waiting time and fidelity of entanglement produced by repeater chain protocols which include a cutoff. Then, we use the algorithm to optimize cutoffs in order to maximize the secret-key rate between the end nodes of the repeater chain. In this article, we find that the use of the optimal cutoff extends the parameter regime for which secret key can be generated and, moreover, significantly increases the secret-key rate for a large range of parameters.
We present an encoded hybrid quantum repeater scheme using qubit-repetition and Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes. For the case of repetition codes, we propose an explicit implementation of the quantum error-correction protocol. Moreover, we analyze the entangled-pair distribution rate for the hybrid quantum repeater with encoding and we clearly identify trade-offs between the efficiency of the codes, the memory-decoherence time, and the local gate errors. Finally, we show that in the presence of reasonable imperfections our system can achieve rates of roughly 24 Hz per memory for 20 km repeater spacing, a final distance of 1280 km, and final fidelity of about 0.95.