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Physical Review A

Differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution with segmented pulse trains

Hiroki Kawahara, Kyo Inoue

Published Jun 14, 2011• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a modified scheme of differential-phase-shift (DPS) quantum key distribution (QKD) for improving its performance. A transmitter sends a weak coherent pulse train segmented with vacant pulses. Then, a receiver can find eavesdropping by monitoring the photon detection rate at particular time slots. Simulations show that the proposed scheme is robust against a sequential attack and a general individual attack.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.062318

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We present a modified scheme of differential-phase-shift (DPS) quantum key distribution (QKD) for improving its performance. A transmitter sends a weak coherent pulse train segmented with vacant pulses. Then, a receiver can find eavesdropping by monitoring the photon detection rate at particular time slots. Simulations show that the proposed scheme is robust against a sequential attack and a general individual attack.
In quantum key distribution (QKD), eavesdropping is generally detected based on bit errors resulting from eavesdropper attacks. This study proposes a QKD scheme for detecting eavesdropping based on the photon-detection rate instead of the bit error rate. The differential-phase-shift (DPS) QKD protocol, which transmits lasting weak coherent pulses, is modified such that decoy pulses with a large mean photon number are randomly inserted into a signal pulse sequence. With this modification, eavesdropping can be detected by monitoring the photon-detection rates at the time slots around the decoy pulses. The key-creation performance of the modified DPS-QKD system is evaluated, and the results indicate that the QKD distance is increased with the modification.
This paper presents a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol named differential-quadrature-phase-shift (DQPS) QKD. A transmitter sends a coherent pulse train in which each pulse is phase modulated by ${0,\ensuremath{\pi}}$ ${\ensuremath{\pi}/2,3\ensuremath{\pi}/2}$, and a receiver measures it with either one of two asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers having phase biases of 0 and $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$, respectively. This scheme is devised such that the idea of the conventional Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol (BB84) is introduced to differential-phase-shift (DPS) QKD. Simulations show that the proposed scheme is robust against a sequential attack that is crucial eavesdropping to DPS-QKD.
A novel type of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, called DPS (differential-phase-shift) QKD, was proposed several years ago. A sender transmits a highly-attenuated coherent pulse train with {0, π} phase, and a receiver receives it with a one-bit delay Mach-Zehnder interferometer followed by photon detectors. A secret key is created from photon detection events, whose security is based on the fact that an eavesdropper cannot perfectly measure the phase information of a highly-attenuated coherent pulse train. This protocol has some features of simple setup, potential for a high key creation rate, and robustness against photon-number-splitting attack. This paper overviews DPS-QKD. The operation mechanism is described, and then some experimental efforts are introduced, featuring use of a glass waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer and advanced single-photon detectors. The highest key rate and the longest distance have been achieved with the DPS-QKD protocol. Some modified schemes are also presented, including that utilizing quantum entanglement, that using decoy pulses, and that using macroscopic coherent light.
A quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme named differential-quadrature-phase-shift (DQPS) QKD is presented. A transmitter sends a weak coherent pulse train with a phase of {0, π}{ π/2. 3π /2} for each pulse, and a receiver measures it with either one of two delay interferometers respectively having bias phases of 0 and π/2. The scheme introduces the idea of the BB84 protocol into differential-phase-shift (DPS) QKD, making the system robust against a sequential attack, and may guarantee the unconditional security as in BB84.