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Physical Review A

Imperfect state preparation in continuous-variable quantum key distribution

Wenyuan Liu, Xuyang Wang, Ning Wang, Shanna Du, Yongmin Li

Published Oct 11, 2017• 48 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In continuous-variable quantum key distribution, the loss and excess noise of the quantum channel are key parameters that determine the secure key rate and the maximal distribution distance. We investigate the imperfect quantum state preparation in Gaussian modulation coherent-state protocol both theoretically and experimentally. We show that the Gaussian distribution characteristic of the prepared states in phase space is broken due to the incorrect calibration of the working parameters for the amplitude modulator and phase modulator. This further causes a significant increase of the excess noise and misestimate of the channel loss. To ensure an accurate estimate of the quantum channel parameters and achieve a reliable quantum key distribution, we propose and demonstrate two effective schemes to calibrate the working parameters of the modulators.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.96.042312

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In continuous-variable quantum key distribution, the loss and excess noise of the quantum channel are key parameters that determine the secure key rate and the maximal distribution distance. We investigate the imperfect quantum state preparation in Gaussian modulation coherent-state protocol both theoretically and experimentally. We show that the Gaussian distribution characteristic of the prepared states in phase space is broken due to the incorrect calibration of the working parameters for the amplitude modulator and phase modulator. This further causes a significant increase of the excess noise and misestimate of the channel loss. To ensure an accurate estimate of the quantum channel parameters and achieve a reliable quantum key distribution, we propose and demonstrate two effective schemes to calibrate the working parameters of the modulators.
Abstract In the Gaussian-modulated coherent states (GMCS) quantum key distribution (QKD), basis choice is a necessary procedure if homodyne detector is used. However, finite bandwidth of the digital-to-analog convertor (DAC) at the receiver’s side may lead to the imperfection of the basis choice, namely, maybe Bob can not exactly modulate 0 or π 2 on the phase modulator to implement the homodyne detection.We investigate the GMCS QKD scheme with imperfect basis choice under realistic conditions of quantum channel and detector.We show that the imperfection causes a misestimate of the transmittance and the excess noise, the secret key rate and the security of the system are dramatically decreased consequently. To achieve a reliable quantum key distribution, a security bound to the noise induced by the imperfect basis choice is derived for reverse reconciliation and homodyne detector. Besides, we propose and demonstrate a countermeasure against the noise due to imperfect basis choice.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) systems based on the modulation of weak-coherent states and homodyne detection has attracted much attention over last years due to its compatibility with existing telecom equipment. The coherent state required by most of the practical protocols for continuous-variable QKD can be produced in practice using a typical laser source followed by standard phase and amplitude optical modulators. On the other hand, the homodyne detector used to measure the quadratures of the modulated light field can be implemented with high-efficient PIN photodiodes. Moreover, in continuous-variable QKD systems the security of the secret key depends on the precise estimation by Bob of the loss and excess noise of the quantum channel. In this work we discuss the impact of imperfect state preparation by Alice and the role of homodyne detector imbalance on the performance of a continuous-variable QKD system. More specifically, we will consider that Alice phase and amplitude modulators are not ideal suffering from incorrect modulation calibration and optical imbalance, and that the positive and negative currents of Bob homodyne detector are not completely canceled due to a non-ideal beam-splitter and due to different quantum efficiencies of its two photodiodes.
As quantum key distribution becomes a mature technology, it appears clearly that some assumptions made in the security proofs cannot be justified in practical implementations. This might open the door to possible side-channel attacks. We examine several discrepancies between theoretical models and experimental setups in the case of continuous-variable quantum key distribution. We study in particular the impact of an imperfect modulation on the security of Gaussian protocols and show that approximating the theoretical Gaussian modulation with a discrete one is sufficient in practice. We also address the issue of properly calibrating the detection setup and in particular the value of the shot noise. Finally, we consider the influence of phase noise in the preparation stage of the protocol and argue that taking this noise into account can improve the secret key rate because this source of noise is not controlled by the eavesdropper.
The continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) has been demonstrated to be available in practical secure quantum cryptography. However, its performance is restricted strongly by the channel excess noise and the reconciliation efficiency. In this paper, we present a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol by encoding the secret keys on the random choices of two measurement bases: the conjugate quadratures XXX and PPP. The employed encoding method can dramatically weaken the effects of channel excess noise and reconciliation efficiency on the performance of the QKD protocol. Subsequently, the proposed scheme exhibits the capability to tolerate much higher excess noise and enables us to reach a much longer secure transmission distance even at lower reconciliation efficiency. The proposal can work alternatively to strengthen significantly the performance of the known Gaussian-modulated CVQKD protocol and serve as a multiplier for practical secure quantum cryptography with continuous variables.
Security of continuous-variable quantum key distribution with four-state protocol based on discrete modulation of noisy coherent states is analyzed. Combing discrete modulation and reverse reconciliation, this protocol can be used for long distance cryptography. There is a small difference between the state Alice sends in the discrete modulation protocol and the Gaussian modulation protocol, and it can be treated as excess noise and loss in the channel. As Alice cannot do a precise modulation, she will induce noise to the coherent state. We look this noise as the source noise and derive a lower bound to the secure key rate assuming the eavesdropper cannot benefit from the noise in the source. For avoiding the fast and random phase locking between the signal and local oscillator in experiment, we also analyze the security of four-state protocol using no-switching scheme.
In experimental setups of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), the ideal Gaussian modulation will suffer from discretization and degrade into discretized polar modulation (DPM), which deteriorates the accuracy of parameter estimation and results in an overestimation of excess noise. We demonstrate that in the asymptotic case, the DPM-induced estimation bias is determined exclusively by the modulation resolutions and can be modeled as a quadratic function. To obtain an accurate estimation, a calibration on the estimated excess noise is implemented based on the closed-form expression of the quadratic bias model, while statistical analysis of the model residuals defines the upper bound of estimated excess noise and the lower bound of secret key rate. Simulation results show that when modulation variance is 25 and excess noise is 0.02, the proposed calibration scheme can eliminate an estimation bias of 14.5%, thus enhancing the efficiency and feasibility of DPM CV-QKD.