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The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting

Practical Measurement Device Independent Quantum Key Distribution

Feihu Xu, Marcos Curty, Bing Qi, Wei Cui, Charles Ci Wen Lim, Kiyoshi Tamaki, Hoi‐Kwong Lo

Published Jan 1, 2013• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We analyze real-life implementations of measurement-device-independent quantum-key-distribution (MDI-QKD): a general system model, a finite-decoy protocol and a finite-key analysis. Our work is relevant to not only QKD but also general experiments on quantum interference.
DOI
10.1364/qim.2013.w6.24

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量子密钥分发(quantum key distribution，简称QKD)因其具有理论上的无条件安全性而备受关注，但是在实际系统中，QKD会由于设备的非完美性而易受到量子黑客的攻击。测量设备无关(measurement device independent，简称MDI) QKD方案的提出，很好地解决了这一问题。本文首先介绍MDI-QKD协议的最新研究进展和实现原理，总结归纳了协议在实际应用中的优越性与不足，在分析MDI-QKD改进协议的基础上，重点研究提升方案安全密钥生成率的方法并进行理论证明。 Quantum key distribution (QKD) has been paid much attention because of its theoretical uncondi-tional security. However, in the actual system, QKD will be vulnerable to Quantum hackers because of non-perfection of equipment. The proposal of the measurement device independent (MDI) QKD provide a good solution to this problem. In this paper, we firstly introduce the latest research progress and implementation principles of the MDI-QKD protocol. And then, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the protocol in the practical application. Based on the analysis of the MDI-QKD improvement protocol, our research is mainly focused on the method of lifting scheme secure key generation rate and theoretical proof.

Modern Physics•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations
A novel protocol, measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), removes all attacks from the detection system, the most vulnerable part in QKD implementations. In this paper, we present an analysis for practical aspects of MDI-QKD. To evaluate its performance, we study various error sources by developing a general system model. We find that MDI-QKD is highly practical and thus can be easily implemented with standard optical devices. Moreover, we present a simple analytical method with only two (general) decoy states for the finite decoy-state analysis. This method can be used directly by experimentalists to demonstrate MDI-QKD. By combining the system model with the finite decoy-state method, we present a general framework for the optimal choice of the intensities of the signal and decoy states. Furthermore, we consider a common situation, namely asymmetric MDI-QKD, in which the two quantum channels have different transmittances. We investigate its properties and discuss how to optimize its performance. Our work is of interest not only to experiments demonstrating MDI-QKD but also to other non-QKD experiments involving quantum interference.
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.
Reference-frame-independent measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-MDI-QKD) is proposed to remove all possible detector side channel attacks without the alignment of reference frames. Due to unavoidable multiphoton events in practical sources, the decoy-state method is always adopted in real-life QKD systems. Unlike original MDI-QKD (O-MDI-QKD), the characterization on practical decoy-state RFI-MDI-QKD is still absent to date. In this paper, we investigate the performance of practical decoy-state RFI-MDI-QKD at different misalignments of reference frames with full parameter optimization when considering statistical fluctuations, and provide a clear comparison between decoy-state RFI-MDI-QKD and O-MDI-QKD. Simulation results demonstrate that decoy-state RFI-MDI-QKD can exhibit performance comparable to that of O-MDI-QKD in practical scenarios, which is very robust in QKD systems.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can remove all detection side-channels from quantum communication systems. The security proofs require, however, that certain assumptions on the sources are satisfied. This includes, for instance, the requirement that there is no information leakage from the transmitters of the senders, which unfortunately is very difficult to guarantee in practice. In this paper we relax this unrealistic assumption by presenting a general formalism to prove the security of MDI-QKD with leaky sources. With this formalism, we analyze the finite-key security of two prominent MDI-QKD schemes-a symmetric three-intensity decoy-state MDI-QKD protocol and a four-intensity decoy-state MDI-QKD protocol-and determine their robustness against information leakage from both the intensity modulator and the phase modulator of the transmitters. Our work shows that MDI-QKD is feasible within a reasonable time frame of signal transmission given that the sources are sufficiently isolated. Thus, it provides an essential reference for experimentalists to ensure the security of implementations of MDI-QKD in the presence of information leakage.
The length of signal pulses is finite in practical quantum key distribution. The finite-key analysis of an unconditional quantum key distribution is a burning problem, and the efficient quantum key distribution protocol suitable for practical implementation, measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI QKD), was proposed very recently. We give the finite-key analysis of MDI QKD, which removes all detector side channels and generates many orders of key rate higher than that of full-device-independent quantum key distribution. The secure bound of the ultimate key rate is obtained under the statistical fluctuations of relative frequency, which can be applied directly to practical threshold detectors with low detection efficiency and highly lossy channels. The bound is evaluated for reasonable values of the observed parameters. The simulation shows that the secure distance is around 10 km when the number of sifted data is 1010{10}^{10}1010. Moreover the secure distance would be much longer in practice because of some simplified treatments used in our paper.
量子密钥分发(quantum key distribution，简称QKD)因其具有理论上的无条件安全性而备受关注，但是在实际系统中，QKD会由于设备的非完美性而易受到量子黑客的攻击。测量设备无关(measurement device independent，简称MDI) QKD方案的提出，很好地解决了这一问题。本文首先介绍MDI-QKD协议的最新研究进展和实现原理，总结归纳了协议在实际应用中的优越性与不足，在分析MDI-QKD改进协议的基础上，重点研究提升方案安全密钥生成率的方法并进行理论证明。 Quantum key distribution (QKD) has been paid much attention because of its theoretical uncondi-tional security. However, in the actual system, QKD will be vulnerable to Quantum hackers because of non-perfection of equipment. The proposal of the measurement device independent (MDI) QKD provide a good solution to this problem. In this paper, we firstly introduce the latest research progress and implementation principles of the MDI-QKD protocol. And then, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the protocol in the practical application. Based on the analysis of the MDI-QKD improvement protocol, our research is mainly focused on the method of lifting scheme secure key generation rate and theoretical proof.