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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Practical secure quantum communications

Eleni Diamanti

Published May 7, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We review recent advances in the field of quantum cryptography, focusing in particular on practical implementations of two central protocols for quantum network applications, namely key distribution and coin flipping. The former allows two parties to share secret messages with information-theoretic security, even in the presence of a malicious eavesdropper in the communication channel, which is impossible with classical resources alone. The latter enables two distrustful parties to agree on a random bit, again with information-theoretic security, and with a cheating probability lower than the one that can be reached in a classical scenario. Our implementations rely on continuous-variable technology for quantum key distribution and on a plug and play discrete-variable system for coin flipping, and necessitate a rigorous security analysis adapted to the experimental schemes and their imperfections. In both cases, we demonstrate the protocols with provable security over record long distances in optical fibers and assess the performance of our systems as well as their limitations. The reported advances offer a powerful toolbox for practical applications of secure communications within future quantum networks.

DOI
10.1117/12.2185062

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We review recent advances in the field of quantum cryptography, focusing in particular on practical implementations of two central protocols for quantum network applications, namely key distribution and coin flipping. The former allows two parties to share secret messages with information-theoretic security, even in the presence of a malicious eavesdropper in the communication channel, which is impossible with classical resources alone. The latter enables two distrustful parties to agree on a random bit, again with information-theoretic security, and with a cheating probability lower than the one that can be reached in a classical scenario. Our implementations rely on continuous-variable technology for quantum key distribution and on a plug and play discrete-variable system for coin flipping, and necessitate a rigorous security analysis adapted to the experimental schemes and their imperfections. In both cases, we demonstrate the protocols with provable security over record long distances in optical fibers and assess the performance of our systems as well as their limitations. The reported advances offer a powerful toolbox for practical applications of secure communications within future quantum networks.
Performing complex cryptographic tasks will be an essential element in future quantum communication networks. These tasks are based on a handful of fundamental primitives, such as coin flipping, where two distrustful parties wish to agree on a randomly generated bit. Although it is known that quantum versions of these primitives can offer information-theoretic security advantages with respect to classical protocols, a demonstration of such an advantage in a practical communication scenario has remained elusive. Here, we experimentally implement a quantum coin flipping protocol that performs strictly better than classically possible over a distance suitable for communication over metropolitan area optical networks. The implementation is based on a practical plug&play system, designed for quantum key distribution. We also show how to combine our protocol with coin flipping protocols that are almost perfectly secure against bounded adversaries, hence enhancing them with a level of information-theoretic security. Our results offer a powerful toolbox for future secure quantum communications.
Quantum technologies have the potential to improve in an unprecedented way the security and efficiency of communications in network infrastructures. We discuss the current landscape in quantum communication and cryptography, and focus in particular on recent photonic implementations, using encoding in discrete or continuous properties of light, of central quantum network protocols, enabling secret key distribution, verification of multiparty entanglement and transactions of quantum money, with security guarantees impossible to achieve with only classical resources. We also describe current challenges in this field and our efforts towards the miniaturization of the developed photonic systems, their integration into telecommunication network infrastructures, including with satellite links, as well as the practical demonstration of novel protocols featuring a quantum advantage for a wide range of tasks. These advances enrich the resources and applications of the emerging quantum networks that will play a central role in the context of future global-scale quantum-safe communications.
Quantum technologies have the potential to improve in an unprecedented way the security and efficiency of communications in network infrastructures. We discuss photonic implementations, using encoding in discrete or continuous properties of light, of central quantum network protocols, enabling secret key distribution, flipping coins in the presence of bias, and fingerprinting with real data sets, featuring a provable quantum advantage in security or use of communication resources with respect to their classical counterparts. We also describe our efforts towards the miniaturization of the developed systems and their integration into telecommunication network infrastructures, including with satellite links. These advances enrich the resources and applications of the emerging quantum networks that will play a central role in the context of future global-scale quantum-safe communications.
The ability to distribute secret keys between two parties with information-theoretic security, that is, regardless of the capacities of a malevolent eavesdropper, is one of the most celebrated results in the field of quantum information processing and communication. Indeed, quantum key distribution illustrates the power of encoding information on the quantum properties of light and has far reaching implications in high-security applications. Today, quantum key distribution systems operate in real-world conditions and are commercially available. As with most quantum information protocols, quantum key distribution was first designed for qubits, the individual quanta of information. However, the use of quantum continuous variables for this task presents important advantages with respect to qubit based protocols, in particular from a practical point of view, since it allows for simple implementations that require only standard telecommunication technology. In this review article, we describe the principle of continuous-variable quantum key distribution, focusing in particular on protocols based on coherent states. We discuss the security of these protocols and report on the state-of-the-art in experimental implementations, including the issue of side-channel attacks. We conclude with promising perspectives in this research field.
The ability to distribute secret keys between two parties with information-theoretic security, that is regardless of the capacities of a malevolent eavesdropper, is one of the most celebrated results in the field of quantum information processing and communication. Indeed, quantum key distribution illustrates the power of encoding information on the quantum properties of light and has far-reaching implications in high-security applications. Today, quantum key distribution systems operate in real-world conditions and are commercially available. As with most quantum information protocols, quantum key distribution was first designed for qubits, the individual quanta of information. However, the use of quantum continuous variables for this task presents important advantages with respect to qubit-based protocols, in particular from a practical point of view, since it allows for simple implementations that require only standard telecommunication technology. In this review article, we describe the principle of continuous-variable quantum key distribution, focusing in particular on protocols based on coherent states. We discuss the security of these protocols and report on the state-of-the-art in experimental implementations, including the issue of side-channel attacks. We conclude with promising perspectives in this research field.