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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Quantum key distribution with time coding and decoy states

D. I. Pustakhod, D. B. Horoshko, Viacheslav N. Chizhevsky, S. Ya. Kilin

Published Jun 1, 2009• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Modern information security systems require use of cryptographic key distribution systems connecting two remote parties. In the present work we propose modified quantum key distribution protocol with time coding and present analysis of practically feasible attacks on this protocol as well as some experimental results, that show the possibility of its successful implementation.

DOI
10.1109/cleoe-eqec.2009.5191470

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Modern information security systems require use of cryptographic key distribution systems connecting two remote parties. In the present work we propose modified quantum key distribution protocol with time coding and present analysis of practically feasible attacks on this protocol as well as some experimental results, that show the possibility of its successful implementation.
We suggest a protocol for quantum key distribution—a technology allowing two distant parties to create an unconditionally secure cryptographic key. For the creation of the key we suggest to use laser pulses weakened to the single-photon level of duration T , the pulse carrying the value “1” being shifted in time by T /2 compared to the pulse carrying the value “0”. The overlap of the pulses provides their non-orthogonality and, therefore, impossibility to discriminate between them with certainty. Besides the signal pulses the protocol uses coherent decoy pulses, having longer duration than the signal ones and providing a more effective protection from a wide class of attacks. Security of the protocol is based on interferometric control of the pulse coherence at the receiving station. We analyze the security of the protocol against a number of intercept-resend attacks and on the basis of this analysis substantiate the necessity of decoy state implementation.
Quantum key distribution establishes a secret string of bits between two distant parties. Of concern in weak laser pulse schemes is the especially strong photon number splitting attack by an eavesdropper, but the decoy state method can detect this attack with current technology, yielding a high rate of secret bits. In this Letter, we develop rigorous security statements in the case of finite statistics with only a few decoy states, and we present the results of simulations of an experimental setup of a decoy state protocol that can be simply realized with current technology.
Subcarrier wave quantum key distribution systems demonstrate promising capabilities for secure quantum networking. However for this class of devices no implementation of secure decoy states protocol was developed. It leaves them potentially vulnerable to photon-number splitting attacks on quantum channel and limiting the key distribution distance. We propose a practical solution to this problem by calculating the required parameters of light source and modulation indices for signal and decoy states in a subcarrier wave system and describing the corresponding experimental scheme.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two remote parties to generate secret keys for cryptographic purposes. Its security has been proven with some assumptions. However, practical realizations may not comply with all the assumptions, leading to various attacks. Founded on the observation that almost all attacks are on the detection part, measurement-device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD) was proposed to remove all such attacks. This thesis presents an implementation of the protocol. In our implementation, key bit information was encoded in the polarization states of weak coherent pulses at 1542 nm wavelength in optical fibers, and decoy state techniques were employed. We ensured stable polarization preparation and alignment and developed a QKD system over 10 km of standard Telecom fibers at 500 KHz repetition rate. Our work demonstrates the practicality of MDI-QKD protocol of removing all attacks, existing and yet to be discovered, on the detection part of a QKD system.
High-dimensional quantum key distribution (HD-QKD) allows two parties to generate multiple secure bits of information per detected photon. In this work, we show that decoy-state protocols can be practically implemented for HD-QKD using only one or two decoy states. HD-QKD with two decoy states, under realistic experimental constraints, can generate multiple secure bits per coincidence at distances over 200 km and at rates similar to those achieved by a protocol with infinite decoy states. Furthermore, HD-QKD with only one decoy state is practical at short distances, where it is almost as secure as a protocol with two decoy states. HD-QKD with only one or two decoy states can therefore be implemented to optimize the rate of secure quantum communications.