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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

High-efficiency quantum key distribution without key sifting

Ping Liu, Shaobo Gao, Chunyan Li, Qi Guo

Published Sep 24, 2018• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In traditional quantum key distribution protocol, both communication parties need to reconciliate their encoding basis to realize sharing secret keys. However, the process of basis reconciliation decreases the generation efficiency of the secret key and classical information is needed to be transmitted for every raw key. Based on quantum interference, we propose a high-efficiency quantum key distribution protocol without basis reconciliation. The presented protocol can greatly improve the generating efficiency of secret keys, reaching 100% in the ideal case, and no classical information is needed. We also analyze the security of the protocol in detail, which shows that the protocol is robust against common attack strategies. Furthermore, the protocol can be implemented with current technologies and open promising possibilities for quantum cryptography.

DOI
10.1364/josab.35.002608

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In traditional quantum key distribution protocol, both communication parties need to reconciliate their encoding basis to realize sharing secret keys. However, the process of basis reconciliation decreases the generation efficiency of the secret key and classical information is needed to be transmitted for every raw key. Based on quantum interference, we propose a high-efficiency quantum key distribution protocol without basis reconciliation. The presented protocol can greatly improve the generating efficiency of secret keys, reaching 100% in the ideal case, and no classical information is needed. We also analyze the security of the protocol in detail, which shows that the protocol is robust against common attack strategies. Furthermore, the protocol can be implemented with current technologies and open promising possibilities for quantum cryptography.
We propose an alternative quantum cryptography protocol using the quantum interference effect. The efficiency of creating sifted key can reach 100\% in principle, which is higher than previous protocols. Especially, compared with the typical quantum key distribution, the present scheme does not require the authorized parties to check their bases. Because the potential eavesdropper can only access part of the quantum system, the proposed scheme has natural practical security advantages. The scheme can be implemented with current technologies and opens promising possibilities for quantum cryptography.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on quantum and classical procedures in order to achieve the growing of a secret random string -the key- known only to the two parties executing the protocol. Limited intrinsic efficiency of the protocol, imperfect devices and eavesdropping produce errors and information leakage from which the set of measured signals -the raw key- must be stripped in order to distill a final, information theoretically secure, key. The key distillation process is a classical one in which basis reconciliation, error correction and privacy amplification protocols are applied to the raw key. This cleaning process is known as information reconciliation and must be done in a fast and efficient way to avoid cramping the performance of the QKD system. Brassard and Salvail proposed a very simple and elegant protocol to reconcile keys in the secret-key agreement context, known as Cascade, that has become the de-facto standard for all QKD practical implementations. However, it is highly interactive, requiring many communications between the legitimate parties and its efficiency is not optimal, imposing an early limit to the maximum tolerable error rate. In this paper we describe a low-density parity-check reconciliation protocol that improves significantly on these problems. The protocol exhibits better efficiency and limits the number of uses of the communications channel. It is also able to adapt to different error rates while remaining efficient, thus reaching longer distances or higher secure key rate for a given QKD system.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on quantum and classical procedures in order to achieve the growing of a secret random string -the key- known only to the two parties executing the protocol. Limited intrinsic efficiency of the protocol, imperfect devices and eavesdropping produce errors and information leakage from which the set of measured signals -the raw key- must be stripped in order to distill a final, information theoretically secure, key. The key distillation process is a classical one in which basis reconciliation, error correction and privacy amplification protocols are applied to the raw key. This cleaning process is known as information reconciliation and must be done in a fast and efficient way to avoid cramping the performance of the QKD system. Brassard and Salvail proposed a very simple and elegant protocol to reconcile keys in the secret-key agreement context, known as Cascade, that has become the de-facto standard for all QKD practical implementations. However, it is highly interactive, requiring many communications between the legitimate parties and its efficiency is not optimal, imposing an early limit to the maximum tolerable error rate. In this paper we describe a low-density parity-check reconciliation protocol that improves significantly on these problems. The protocol exhibits better efficiency and limits the number of uses of the communications channel. It is also able to adapt to different error rates while remaining efficient, thus reaching longer distances or higher secure key rate for a given QKD system.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on quantum and classical procedures in order to achieve the growing of a secret random string -the key- known only to the two parties executing the protocol. Limited intrinsic efficiency of the protocol, imperfect devices and eavesdropping produce errors and information leakage from which the set of measured signals -the raw key- must be stripped in order to distill a final, information theoretically secure, key. The key distillation process is a classical one in which basis reconciliation, error correction and privacy amplification protocols are applied to the raw key. This cleaning process is known as information reconciliation and must be done in a fast and efficient way to avoid cramping the performance of the QKD system. Brassard and Salvail proposed a very simple and elegant protocol to reconcile keys in the secretkey agreement context, known as Cascade, that has become the de-facto standard for all QKD practical implementations. However, it is highly interactive, requiring many communications between the legitimate parties and its efficiency is not optimal, imposing an early limit to the maximum tolerable error rate. In this paper we describe a low-density parity-check reconciliation protocol that improves significantly on these problems. The protocol exhibits better efficiency and limits the number of uses of the communications channel. It is also able to adapt to different error rates while remaining efficient, thus reaching longer distances or higher secure key rate for a given QKD system.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) refers to specific quantum strategies which permit the secure distribution of a secret key between two parties that wish to communicate secretly. Quantum cryptography has proven unconditionally secure in ideal scenarios and has been successfully implemented using quantum states with finite (discrete) as well as infinite (continuous) degrees of freedom. Here, we analyze the efficiency of QKD protocols that use as a resource entangled gaussian states and gaussian operations only. In this framework, it has already been shown that QKD is possible [1] but the issue of its efficiency has not been considered. We propose a figure of merit (the efficiency E) to quantify the number of classical correlated bits that can be used to distill a key from a sample of N entangled states. We relate the efficiency of the protocol to the entanglement and purity of the states shared between the parties.
We consider in this paper the practical implementation of a siftingless quantum key distribution protocol. The protocol is considered siftingless since it combines sifting and error correction in a single step for basis and information reconciliation, respectively. The protocol can be efficiently implemented even assuming the existence of errors in the communication. In this case, the correlations between the legitimate parties can be modeled by a binary symmetric channel with erasures. Specific codes for this channel are included and simulated for intermediate block lengths. Simulation results show that a key reconciliation step carrying simultaneously both basis and information reconciliation can be efficiently implemented.