Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1908.08261 · Science Advances

Quantum key distribution with correlated sources

Margarida Pereira, Go Kato, Akihiro Mizutani, Marcos Curty, Kiyoshi Tamaki

Published Sep 9, 2020• 92 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In theory, quantum key distribution (QKD) offers information-theoretic security. In practice, however, it does not due to the discrepancies between the assumptions used in the security proofs and the behavior of the real apparatuses. Recent years have witnessed a tremendous effort to fill the gap, but the treatment of correlations among pulses has remained a major elusive problem. Here, we close this gap by introducing a simple yet general method to prove the security of QKD with arbitrarily long-range pulse correlations. Our method is compatible with those security proofs that accommodate all the other typical device imperfections, thus paving the way toward achieving implementation security in QKD with arbitrary flawed devices. Moreover, we introduce a new framework for security proofs, which we call the reference technique. This framework includes existing security proofs as special cases, and it can be widely applied to a number of QKD protocols.

DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aaz4487

Related papers

Experimental measurement-device-independent type quantum key distribution with flawed and correlated sources

Jie Gu, Xiaoyu Cao, Yao Fu +4 more

The security of quantum key distribution (QKD) is severely threatened by discrepancies between realistic devices and theoretical assumptions. Recently, a significant framework called the reference technique was proposed to provide security against arbitrary source flaws under current technology such as state preparation flaws, side channels caused by mode dependencies, the Trojan horse attacks and pulse correlations. Here, we adopt the reference technique to prove security of an efficient four-phase measurement-device-independent QKD using laser pulses against potential source imperfections. We present a characterization of source flaws and connect them to experiments, together with a finite-key analysis against coherent attacks. In addition, we demonstrate the feasibility of our protocol through a proof-of-principle experimental implementation and achieve a secure key rate of 253 bps with a 20 dB channel loss. Compared with previous QKD protocols with imperfect devices, our study considerably improves both the secure key rate and the transmission distance, and shows application potential in the practical deployment of secure QKD with device imperfections.

arXiv:2204.08323•中国科学通报：英文版•Oct 14, 2022•114 citations

Phase-error-estimation security framework for quantum key distribution with correlated sources

Guillermo Currás-Lorenzo, Margarida Pereira, Kiyoshi Tamaki +1 more

Practical QKD modulators introduce correlations between consecutively emitted pulses due to bandwidth limitations, violating key assumptions underlying many security proof techniques. Here, we address this problem by introducing a simple yet powerful mathematical framework to directly extend phase-error-estimation-based security proofs for imperfect but uncorrelated sources to also incorporate encoding correlations. Our framework overcomes important limitations of previous approaches in terms of generality and rigor, significantly narrowing the gap between theoretical security guarantees and real-world QKD implementations.

quant-pharXiv:2601.08417•Physical Review Research•Jan 14, 2026•0 citations

Numerical security analysis for practical quantum key distribution

Álvaro Navarrete, Guillermo Currás-Lorenzo, Margarida Pereira +1 more

Quantum key distribution (QKD) promises information-theoretic security based on quantum mechanics and idealized device models. Practical implementations, however, deviate from these models due to unavoidable device imperfections, and existing security proofs fall short of capturing the complexity of real-world systems. Here we introduce a versatile numerical finite-key security framework valid against general coherent attacks and applicable to a broad class of practical QKD setups. It accommodates most relevant imperfections at both transmitter and receiver, including non-independent-and-identically-distributed (non-IID) signals arising in high-speed QKD systems due to the limited bandwidth of optical modulators, while requiring only partial characterization of the apparatuses. We demonstrate the power of our framework by proving the security of a realistic decoy-state QKD implementation with laser sources, providing a practical route towards rigorous security certification of real-world QKD setups.

quant-pharXiv:2605.12984•May 14, 2026•0 citations

Secure quantum key distribution against correlated leakage source

Jia-Xuan Li, Yang-Guang Shan, Rong Wang +7 more

Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security based on quantum mechanics, yet its implementation is hindered by source imperfections. Among these, correlations between transmitted pulses present a critical but underexplored threat to QKD's theoretical security. We propose a general framework for QKD security under correlated sources, achieving the first finite-key analysis by extending and reorganizing QKD rounds using the generalized chain rule. Inspired by side-channel-secure QKD, we design a protocol secure against correlated leakage sources, requiring only the correlation range and lower bounds on the vacuum component of the prepared states. Our framework also applies to other QKD protocols, providing a general approach to address correlation-induced vulnerabilities. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our protocol and its significantly superior tolerance to imperfections compared to existing protocols. This work provides a crucial step toward closing security loopholes in QKD, enhancing its practicality, and ensuring long-distance, high-performance secure communication under real-world constraints.

arXiv:2507.11251•Science Advances•Apr 10, 2026•5 citations

Quantum key distribution with setting-choice-independently correlated light sources

Akihiro Mizutani, Go Kato, Koji Azuma +6 more

Abstract Despite the enormous theoretical and experimental progress made so far in quantum key distribution (QKD), the security of most existing practical QKD systems is not rigorously established yet. A critical obstacle is that almost all existing security proofs make ideal assumptions on the QKD devices. Problematically, such assumptions are hard to satisfy in the experiments, and therefore it is not obvious how to apply such security proofs to practical QKD systems. Fortunately, any imperfections and security-loopholes in the measurement devices can be perfectly closed by measurement-device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD), and thus we only need to consider how to secure the source devices. Among imperfections in the source devices, correlations between the sending pulses and modulation fluctuations are one of the principal problems, which unfortunately most of the existing security proofs do not consider. In this paper, we take into account these imperfections and enhance the implementation security of QKD. Specifically, we consider a setting-choice-independent correlation (SCIC) framework in which the sending pulses can present arbitrary correlations but they are independent of the previous setting choices such as the bit, the basis and the intensity settings. Within the framework of SCIC, we consider the dominant fluctuations of the sending states, such as the relative phases and the intensities, and provide a self-contained information-theoretic security proof for the loss-tolerant QKD protocol in the finite-key regime. We demonstrate the feasibility of secure quantum communication, and thus our work constitutes a crucial step towards guaranteeing the security of practical QKD systems.

arXiv:1803.09484•npj Quantum Information•Jan 23, 2019•36 citations

Quantum Key Distribution with Imperfections: Recent Advances in Security Proofs

Patrick Andriolo, Esteban Vasquez, Elizabeth Agudelo +3 more

In contrast to classical public-key cryptosystems, where the security of encoded messages relies on on computational assumptions, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) enables two distant parties to establish a shared secret key that, when combined with a one-time pad, provides information-theoretically secure encryption, provided that the QKD protocol is supported by a rigorous security proof. In the last decades, security proofs robust against a wide range of eavesdropping strategies have established the theoretical soundness of several QKD protocols. However, most proofs are based on idealized models of the physical systems involved in such protocols and often include assumptions that are not satisfied in practical implementations. This mismatch creates a gap between theoretical security guarantees and actual experimental realizations, making QKD protocols vulnerable to attacks. To ensure the security of real-world QKD systems, it is therefore essential to account for imperfections in security analyses. In this article, we present an overview of recent analytical and numerical developments in QKD security proofs, which provide a versatile approach for incorporating imperfections and re-establishing the security of quantum communication protocols under realistic conditions.

quant-pharXiv:2602.05057•Brazilian Journal of Physics•Feb 6, 2026•1 citation
In theory, quantum key distribution (QKD) offers information-theoretic security. In practice, however, it does not due to the discrepancies between the assumptions used in the security proofs and the behavior of the real apparatuses. Recent years have witnessed a tremendous effort to fill the gap, but the treatment of correlations among pulses has remained a major elusive problem. Here, we close this gap by introducing a simple yet general method to prove the security of QKD with arbitrarily long-range pulse correlations. Our method is compatible with those security proofs that accommodate all the other typical device imperfections, thus paving the way toward achieving implementation security in QKD with arbitrary flawed devices. Moreover, we introduce a new framework for security proofs, which we call the reference technique. This framework includes existing security proofs as special cases, and it can be widely applied to a number of QKD protocols.
The security of quantum key distribution (QKD) is severely threatened by discrepancies between realistic devices and theoretical assumptions. Recently, a significant framework called the reference technique was proposed to provide security against arbitrary source flaws under current technology such as state preparation flaws, side channels caused by mode dependencies, the Trojan horse attacks and pulse correlations. Here, we adopt the reference technique to prove security of an efficient four-phase measurement-device-independent QKD using laser pulses against potential source imperfections. We present a characterization of source flaws and connect them to experiments, together with a finite-key analysis against coherent attacks. In addition, we demonstrate the feasibility of our protocol through a proof-of-principle experimental implementation and achieve a secure key rate of 253 bps with a 20 dB channel loss. Compared with previous QKD protocols with imperfect devices, our study considerably improves both the secure key rate and the transmission distance, and shows application potential in the practical deployment of secure QKD with device imperfections.
Practical QKD modulators introduce correlations between consecutively emitted pulses due to bandwidth limitations, violating key assumptions underlying many security proof techniques. Here, we address this problem by introducing a simple yet powerful mathematical framework to directly extend phase-error-estimation-based security proofs for imperfect but uncorrelated sources to also incorporate encoding correlations. Our framework overcomes important limitations of previous approaches in terms of generality and rigor, significantly narrowing the gap between theoretical security guarantees and real-world QKD implementations.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) promises information-theoretic security based on quantum mechanics and idealized device models. Practical implementations, however, deviate from these models due to unavoidable device imperfections, and existing security proofs fall short of capturing the complexity of real-world systems. Here we introduce a versatile numerical finite-key security framework valid against general coherent attacks and applicable to a broad class of practical QKD setups. It accommodates most relevant imperfections at both transmitter and receiver, including non-independent-and-identically-distributed (non-IID) signals arising in high-speed QKD systems due to the limited bandwidth of optical modulators, while requiring only partial characterization of the apparatuses. We demonstrate the power of our framework by proving the security of a realistic decoy-state QKD implementation with laser sources, providing a practical route towards rigorous security certification of real-world QKD setups.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security based on quantum mechanics, yet its implementation is hindered by source imperfections. Among these, correlations between transmitted pulses present a critical but underexplored threat to QKD's theoretical security. We propose a general framework for QKD security under correlated sources, achieving the first finite-key analysis by extending and reorganizing QKD rounds using the generalized chain rule. Inspired by side-channel-secure QKD, we design a protocol secure against correlated leakage sources, requiring only the correlation range and lower bounds on the vacuum component of the prepared states. Our framework also applies to other QKD protocols, providing a general approach to address correlation-induced vulnerabilities. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our protocol and its significantly superior tolerance to imperfections compared to existing protocols. This work provides a crucial step toward closing security loopholes in QKD, enhancing its practicality, and ensuring long-distance, high-performance secure communication under real-world constraints.
Abstract Despite the enormous theoretical and experimental progress made so far in quantum key distribution (QKD), the security of most existing practical QKD systems is not rigorously established yet. A critical obstacle is that almost all existing security proofs make ideal assumptions on the QKD devices. Problematically, such assumptions are hard to satisfy in the experiments, and therefore it is not obvious how to apply such security proofs to practical QKD systems. Fortunately, any imperfections and security-loopholes in the measurement devices can be perfectly closed by measurement-device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD), and thus we only need to consider how to secure the source devices. Among imperfections in the source devices, correlations between the sending pulses and modulation fluctuations are one of the principal problems, which unfortunately most of the existing security proofs do not consider. In this paper, we take into account these imperfections and enhance the implementation security of QKD. Specifically, we consider a setting-choice-independent correlation (SCIC) framework in which the sending pulses can present arbitrary correlations but they are independent of the previous setting choices such as the bit, the basis and the intensity settings. Within the framework of SCIC, we consider the dominant fluctuations of the sending states, such as the relative phases and the intensities, and provide a self-contained information-theoretic security proof for the loss-tolerant QKD protocol in the finite-key regime. We demonstrate the feasibility of secure quantum communication, and thus our work constitutes a crucial step towards guaranteeing the security of practical QKD systems.
In contrast to classical public-key cryptosystems, where the security of encoded messages relies on on computational assumptions, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) enables two distant parties to establish a shared secret key that, when combined with a one-time pad, provides information-theoretically secure encryption, provided that the QKD protocol is supported by a rigorous security proof. In the last decades, security proofs robust against a wide range of eavesdropping strategies have established the theoretical soundness of several QKD protocols. However, most proofs are based on idealized models of the physical systems involved in such protocols and often include assumptions that are not satisfied in practical implementations. This mismatch creates a gap between theoretical security guarantees and actual experimental realizations, making QKD protocols vulnerable to attacks. To ensure the security of real-world QKD systems, it is therefore essential to account for imperfections in security analyses. In this article, we present an overview of recent analytical and numerical developments in QKD security proofs, which provide a versatile approach for incorporating imperfections and re-establishing the security of quantum communication protocols under realistic conditions.