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Acta Physica Sinica

Nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions

Wei Sun, Hua‐Lei Yin, Xiang-Xiang Sun, Teng‐Yun Chen

Published Jan 1, 2016• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nonorthogonal coded agreements and decoy state method can effectively protect the photon number against splitting attack. Owing to the fact that the component of single-photon in the coherent-state superposition (CSS) is as high as 90%, CSS has recently emerged as an alternative to single-photon qubits for quantum information processing and metrology. The approximate CSS of small amplitudes is generated by the subtraction of photons from a squeezed vacuum state, and the approximate CSS of large amplitude is generated from Fock state by using a single homodyne detection. Here, we combine both of the methods and propose a new protocol by using the CSS as a light source. We derive the secure key generation rate, the lower bound of count rate and upper bound of error rate of single-photon. We simulate the curves relationship between secure key generation rate and safety transmission distance in the case of an infinite number of decoy states by using matlab. The parameters are given according to the Gobby-Yuan-Shields (GYS) experiment. We infer that the safety transmission distance achieves 147.4 km and the secure key generation rate is much higher than those of other schemes. We also simulate the relationship between key generation rate and safety transmission distance in the case of a limited number of decoy states by using matlab. The parameters are given according to the GYS experiment too. When the N is 1010, the safety transmission distance achieves 144 km; when the N is 109, the safety transmission distance achieves 139 km; when the N is 108, the safety transmission distance achieves 125.9 km. In this paper, we propose the use of CSS as the light source. Combining SARG04 agreements and decoy state, the scheme has the following advantages: first, the scheme which combines SARG04 agreements and decoy state method can effectively resist PNS; second, nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions has a longer safety transmission distance and higher secure key generation rate than nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on weak coherent pulse and nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on conditionally prepared down-conversion source; third, nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions is easier to prepare, which just needs one decoy state, than other schemes that require several decoy states. Obviously, our scheme can enhance the performance of quantum key distribution. Nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions will have a very good application with the further development of preparation technology of CSS.

DOI
10.7498/aps.65.080301

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Nonorthogonal coded agreements and decoy state method can effectively protect the photon number against splitting attack. Owing to the fact that the component of single-photon in the coherent-state superposition (CSS) is as high as 90%, CSS has recently emerged as an alternative to single-photon qubits for quantum information processing and metrology. The approximate CSS of small amplitudes is generated by the subtraction of photons from a squeezed vacuum state, and the approximate CSS of large amplitude is generated from Fock state by using a single homodyne detection. Here, we combine both of the methods and propose a new protocol by using the CSS as a light source. We derive the secure key generation rate, the lower bound of count rate and upper bound of error rate of single-photon. We simulate the curves relationship between secure key generation rate and safety transmission distance in the case of an infinite number of decoy states by using matlab. The parameters are given according to the Gobby-Yuan-Shields (GYS) experiment. We infer that the safety transmission distance achieves 147.4 km and the secure key generation rate is much higher than those of other schemes. We also simulate the relationship between key generation rate and safety transmission distance in the case of a limited number of decoy states by using matlab. The parameters are given according to the GYS experiment too. When the N is 1010, the safety transmission distance achieves 144 km; when the N is 109, the safety transmission distance achieves 139 km; when the N is 108, the safety transmission distance achieves 125.9 km. In this paper, we propose the use of CSS as the light source. Combining SARG04 agreements and decoy state, the scheme has the following advantages: first, the scheme which combines SARG04 agreements and decoy state method can effectively resist PNS; second, nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions has a longer safety transmission distance and higher secure key generation rate than nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on weak coherent pulse and nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on conditionally prepared down-conversion source; third, nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions is easier to prepare, which just needs one decoy state, than other schemes that require several decoy states. Obviously, our scheme can enhance the performance of quantum key distribution. Nonorthogonal decoy-state quantum key distribution based on coherent-state superpositions will have a very good application with the further development of preparation technology of CSS.
In practical quantum key distribution (QKD), weak coherent states as the photon source have a limit in the secure key rate and transmission distance because of the existence of multi-photon pulses and heavy loss in transmission line. The decoy-state method and the nonorthogonal encoding protocol are two important methods to combat these effects. Here, we combine both the methods and propose an efficient method that can substantially improve the performance of QKD. We find a 78-km increase over the prior record using the decoy-state method and a 123-km increase over the result of the SARG04 protocol in transmission distance.
For the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution, longer distance and higher key generation rate is shown with a heralded single photon source (HSPS). In this paper, the nonorthogonal encoding protocol SARG04 based on one vacuum and two weak decoy states with HSPS is presented. According to the public announcement of Alice's detection events, the overall gain of Bob's detector and quantum bit error rate (QBER) can be divided into two groups, triggered components and nontriggered components. We present a new protocol that use both triggered and nontriggered components to estimate the fraction and QBER of single-photon and two-photon pulses, and then deduce the final secure key generation rate. The final key generation rate over transmission distance is simulated, which shows that we can obtain a higher key rate than that of the existing methods.
A nonorthogonal passive decoy-state method is presented with a reconstructive weak coherent state source. The method dose not prepare decoy states actively and divides the receiver detection events into two groups, i.e., triggered components and nontriggered components, according to triggering situation of the sender detector. Both triggered and nontriggered components, as signal states and decoy states, are used to do some estimations and to generate secure key. The simulation results show that a better key generation rate and a longer secure transmission distance can be obtained with the nonorthogonal passive decoy-state method than with the existing passive methods, and that the performance is comparable to the theoretical limit of an active infinite decoy-state protocol. Furthermore, the nontriggered component contribution to key generation offsets the limitation of the detector low efficiency, and the performance of the method dose not depend on the detector efficiency of sender. Because decoy states need not be prepared actively, and our protocol is easy to implement and apply to quantum key distribution at high transmission rates.
The decoy-state method and the non-orthogonal encoding protocol, being capable of resisting the photon-number splitting attack, have become attractive recently. Here, we combine both the methods and propose a new protocol using a conditionally prepared down-conversion source, following Poisson photon number distribution. In the protocol, Alice randomly changes the intensities of the pump light so that the intensity of signal photon of photon pair is randomly changed. The signal state is used for generating keys, the decoy states for detecting the eavesdropping and estimating the fraction of single-photon and two-photon pulses. We have simulated the final key rate over transmission distance, showing our scheme can enhance the performance of quantum key distribution.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) with decoy-state method is believed to be securely applied to defeat various hacking attacks in practical quantum key distribution systems. Recently, the coherent-state superpositions (CSS) have emerged as an alternative to single-photon qubits for quantum information processing and metrology. Here, in this Letter, CSS are exploited as the source in MDI-QKD. We present an analytical method that gives two tight formulas to estimate the lower bound of yield and the upper bound of bit error rate. We exploit the standard statistical analysis and Chernoff bound to perform the parameter estimation. Chernoff bound can provide good bounds in the long-distance MDI-QKD. Our results show that with CSS, both the security transmission distance and secure key rate are significantly improved compared with those of the weak coherent states in the finite-data case.
Combining the passive decoy-state idea with the active decoy-state idea, a non-orthogonal (SARG04) decoy-state protocol with one vacuum and two weak decoy states is introduced based on a heralded pair coherent state photon source for quantum key distribution. Two special cases of this protocol are deduced, i.e., a one-vacuum-and-one-weak-decoy-state protocol and a one-weak-decoy-state protocol. In these protocols, the sender prepares decoy states actively, which avoids the crude estimation of parameters in the SARG04 passive decoy-state method. With the passive decoy-state idea, the detection events on Bob's side that are non-triggered on Alice's side are not discarded, but used to estimate the fractions of single-photon and two-photon pulses, which offsets the limitation of the detector's low efficiency and overcomes the shortcoming that the performance of the active decoy-state protocol critically depends on the efficiency of detector. The simulation results show that the combination of the active and passive decoy-state ideas increases the key generation rate. With a one-vacuum-and-two-weak-decoy-state protocol, one can achieve a key generation rate that is close to the theoretical limit of an infinite decoy-state protocol. The performance of the other two protocols is a little less than with the former, but the implementation is easier. Under the same condition of implementation, higher key rates can be obtained with our protocols than with existing methods.