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arXiv:1704.04371 · Physical Review A

One-sided measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Wen-Fei Cao, Yi-Zheng Zhen, Yu-Lin Zheng, Li Li, Zeng‐Bing Chen, Nai-Le Liu, Kai Chen

Published Jan 16, 2018• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol was proposed to remove all the detector side channel attacks, while its security relies on the trusted encoding systems. Here we propose a one-sided MDI-QKD (1SMDI-QKD) protocol, which enjoys detection loophole-free advantage, and at the same time weakens the state preparation assumption in MDI-QKD. The 1SMDI-QKD can be regarded as a modified MDI-QKD, in which Bob's encoding system is trusted, while Alice's is uncharacterized. For the practical implementation, we also provide a scheme by utilizing coherent light source with an analytical two decoy state estimation method. Simulation with realistic experimental parameters shows that the protocol has a promising performance, and thus can be applied to practical QKD applications.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.97.012313

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Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol was proposed to remove all the detector side channel attacks, while its security relies on the trusted encoding systems. Here we propose a one-sided MDI-QKD (1SMDI-QKD) protocol, which enjoys detection loophole-free advantage, and at the same time weakens the state preparation assumption in MDI-QKD. The 1SMDI-QKD can be regarded as a modified MDI-QKD, in which Bob's encoding system is trusted, while Alice's is uncharacterized. For the practical implementation, we also provide a scheme by utilizing coherent light source with an analytical two decoy state estimation method. Simulation with realistic experimental parameters shows that the protocol has a promising performance, and thus can be applied to practical QKD applications.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can be immune to all detector side-channel attacks and guarantee the information-theoretical security even with uncharacterized single photon detectors. MDI-QKD has been demonstrated in both laboratories and field-tests by using attenuated lasers combined with the decoy-state technique. However, it is a critical assumption that the sources used by legitimate participants are trusted in MDI-QKD. Hence, it is possible that a potential security risk exists. Here we propose a new scheme of polarization-encoding-based MDI-QKD with a single untrusted source, by which the complexity of the synchronization system can be reduced and the success rate of the Bell-state measurement can be improved. Meanwhile, the decoy-state method is employed to avoid the security issues introduced by a non-ideal single photon source. We also derive a security analysis of the proposed system. In addition, it seems to be a promising candidate for the implementation for QKD network in the near future.
To date, only active-decoy-state methods have been adopted in current measurement-device-independent (MDI) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols, causing security loopholes when modulating multiple light intensities with practical devices. To solve this problem, the passive-decoy-state method will be a good choice. Until today practical passive-decoy-state MDI QKD is still missing. In this paper, based on a recently discussed structure of heralded single-photon sources, we propose a passive-decoy-state MDI QKD protocol. In present work, one does not need to modulate light sources into different intensities, but utilizes the built-in local detection events to passively generate different decoy states. Furthermore, through carrying out an appropriate mathematical method, we are able to give very precise estimations for single-photon-pair contributions. As a result, our protocol can exhibit distinct advantages compared with state-of-the-art MDI QKD schemes even when the finite-key-size effect is taken into account. Therefore, our protocol seems a promising candidate to enhance both the security and performance of MDI QKD in practical implementation.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key dis-tribution (MDI-QKD) can remove all detector side-channel attacks. However, there are still some assumptions on source preparations in MDI-QKD protocols, which are too strict to achieve in real-life implementations. To remove those assump-tions, here we construct a scheme on characterizing the source modulation errors with Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferences. Furthermore, we combine it with the decoy-state method and present the security analysis. Besides, finite data-size effects are taken into account as well. Simulation results verify the feasibility and practicability of this scheme. It thus seems a very promising candidate for constructing high-security network in the near future.
Measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication (MDI-QSDC) protocol is capable of defending against attacks on detectors by illegal parties, and its security relies on the trustworthy preparation of quantum states. In this paper, we propose the one-sided measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication (1SMDI-QSDC) protocol, which not only has the advantage of being independent of detection loopholes but also weakens the requirement of MDI-QSDC for state preparation. We analyze the real-life secrecy capacity of this proposed protocol by using realistic experimental settings that contain the weak coherent pulse source, parametric down-conversion source, and customized decoy-state method. The results indicate that our protocols can achieve secure communication over a few hundred kilometers. Furthermore, we find that the coding technology of increasing capacity using masking (INCUM) can mitigate the degradation of the maximum distance of secure communication when the state preparation is highly untrustworthy.
Decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is regarded as one of the most promising protocols since it is physically immune to all fatal detection-side attacks. However, the loopholes in the source side still open side channels to eavesdroppers. Previous work has indicated that a system is insecure if its decoy-state modulation is inaccurate, but a practical method for Eve to exploit the inaccurate modulation is still absent. In this work, we propose a practical hacking method and provide a detailed theoretical analysis. Using our method, we experimentally hacked a MDI-QKD system and successfully obtained all final keys. By demonstrating the hacking experiment, we hope to bring attention to source-side security and provide inspiration for the development of protocols with better source-side security.
The measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol is proposed to remove the detector side channel attacks, while its security relies on the assumption that the encoding systems are perfectly characterized. In contrast, the MDI-QKD protocol based on the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality (CHSH-MDI-QKD) weakens this assumption, which only requires the quantum state to be prepared in the two-dimensional Hilbert space and the devices are independent. In experimental realizations, the weak coherent state, which is always used in QKD systems due to the lack of an ideal single-photon source, may be prepared in the high-dimensional space. In this paper, we investigate the decoy-state CHSH-MDI-QKD protocol with $s(3\ensuremath{\le}s\ensuremath{\le}5)$ intensities, including one signal state and $s\ensuremath{-}1$ decoy states, and we also consider the finite-size effect on the decoy-state CHSH-MDI-QKD protocol with five intensities. Simulation results show that this scheme is very practical.