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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Implementing full parameter optimization on decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions under realistic experimental conditions

Xingyu Zhou, Chun-Mei Zhang, Qin Wang

Published Jun 26, 2017• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Parameter selection has significant influence on the performance of practical measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions. In this paper, we develop a general model for optimizing the performance of decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions under practical experimental conditions, e.g., with finite number of pulses and including intensity fluctuations. By implementing the local search algorithm, we are able to carry out full parameter optimization within reasonable computer time. Moreover, we do calculation for the two most often used light sources, i.e., the weak coherent sources and heralded single-photon sources. Our simulation results show that the case of using heralded single-photon sources would suffer less influence from realistic conditions, exhibiting relatively better performance on both the secure key rate and secure transmission distance.

DOI
10.1364/josab.34.001518

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Parameter selection has significant influence on the performance of practical measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions. In this paper, we develop a general model for optimizing the performance of decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions under practical experimental conditions, e.g., with finite number of pulses and including intensity fluctuations. By implementing the local search algorithm, we are able to carry out full parameter optimization within reasonable computer time. Moreover, we do calculation for the two most often used light sources, i.e., the weak coherent sources and heralded single-photon sources. Our simulation results show that the case of using heralded single-photon sources would suffer less influence from realistic conditions, exhibiting relatively better performance on both the secure key rate and secure transmission distance.
At present, most of the measurement-device-independent quantum key distributions (MDI-QKD) are based on weak coherent sources and limited in the transmission distance under realistic experimental conditions, e.g., considering the finite-size-key effects. Hence in this paper, we propose a new biased decoy-state scheme using heralded single-photon sources for the three-intensity MDI-QKD, where we prepare the decoy pulses only in X basis and adopt both the collective constraints and joint parameter estimation techniques. Compared with former schemes with WCS or HSPS, after implementing full parameter optimizations, our scheme gives distinct reduced quantum bit error rate in the X basis and thus show excellent performance, especially when the data size is relatively small.
We study decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution using heralded single-photon sources. This has the advantage that the observed error rate in the XXX basis is at higher order and not so large. We calculate the key rate and transmission distance for two cases: one using only triggered events, and the other using both triggered and nontriggered events. We compare the key rates of various protocols and find that our scheme using triggered and nontriggered events can give a higher key rate and a longer secure distance. Moreover, we also show the different behavior of our scheme when using different heralded single-photon sources, i.e., in Poisson or thermal distributions. We demonstrate that the former can generate a higher secure key rate than the latter and can thus work more efficiently in practical quantum key distributions.
We present an efficient decoy-state protocol measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution without vacuum source, with the heralded single-photon source (HSPS) and global optimization. This protocol is able to give a high key rate and avoid the security problem caused by the vacuum source or extremely weak source. In the protocol, the heralded outcome pulse pairs in XXX basis are used as decoy pairs and all outcome pairs in ZZZ basis are used as signal pairs. Each side uses three different intensities for the outcome pulses, two in XXX basis and one in ZZZ basis. In order to efficiently optimize the key rate globally, we present an efficient method to estimate what values we will observe by using the HSPS. This efficient method greatly reduces the computation complexity from the fourfold summation to a single-fold summation in the numerical simulation and makes it operable to seek the optimization points globally.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) has been widely investigated due to its remarkable advantages on the achievable transmission distance and practical security. However, the relative low key generation rate limits its real-life implementations. In this work, we adopt the newly proposed four-intensity decoy-state scheme [Phys. Rev. A 93, 042324 (2016)] to study the performance of MDI-QKD with heralded single-photon sources (HSPS). Corresponding simulation results demonstrate that the four-intensity decoy-state scheme combining HSPS can drastically improve both the key generation rate and transmission distance in MDI-QKD, which may be very promising in future MDI-QKD systems.
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.
Quantum key distribution involving decoy-states is a significant application of quantum information. By using three-intensity decoy-states of single-photon-added coherent sources, we propose a practically realizable scheme on quantum key distribution which approaches very closely the ideal asymptotic case of an infinite number of decoy-states. We make a comparative study between this scheme and two other existing ones, i.e., two-intensity decoy-states with single-photon-added coherent sources, and three-intensity decoy-states with weak coherent sources. Through numerical analysis, we demonstrate the advantages of our scheme in secure transmission distance and the final key generation rate.