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Chinese Physics B

Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution with two-way classical communication

Chun Hua Zhou, Hai-Tao 海涛 Wang 汪, Yi-Fei 宜飞 Lu 陆, Xiao‐Lei Jiang, Yan-Mei 燕美 Zhao 赵, Yu Zhou, Yang Wang, Jia-Ji Li, Yan-Yang 砚扬 Zhou 周, Xiang Wang, Hong-Wei 宏伟 Li 李, Wan‐Su Bao

Published Aug 2, 2024• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The data post-processing scheme based on two-way classical communication (TWCC) can improve the tolerable bit error rate and extend the maximal transmission distance when used in a quantum key distribution (QKD) system. In this study, we apply the TWCC method to improve the performance of reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD), and analyze the influence of the TWCC method on the performance of decoy-state RFI-QKD in both asymptotic and non-asymptotic cases. Our numerical simulation results show that the TWCC method is able to extend the maximal transmission distance from 175 km to 198 km and improve the tolerable bit error rate from 10.48% to 16.75%. At the same time, the performance of RFI-QKD in terms of the secret key rate and maximum transmission distance are still greatly improved when statistical fluctuations are considered. We conclude that RFI-QKD with the TWCC method is of practical interest.

DOI
10.1088/1674-1056/ad6a3d

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Abstract The data post-processing scheme based on two-way classical communication (TWCC) can improve the tolerable bit error rate and extend the maximal transmission distance when used in a quantum key distribution (QKD) system. In this study, we apply the TWCC method to improve the performance of reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD), and analyze the influence of the TWCC method on the performance of decoy-state RFI-QKD in both asymptotic and non-asymptotic cases. Our numerical simulation results show that the TWCC method is able to extend the maximal transmission distance from 175 km to 198 km and improve the tolerable bit error rate from 10.48% to 16.75%. At the same time, the performance of RFI-QKD in terms of the secret key rate and maximum transmission distance are still greatly improved when statistical fluctuations are considered. We conclude that RFI-QKD with the TWCC method is of practical interest.
Abstract The data post-processing scheme based on two-way classical communication(TWCC) can improve the tolerable bit error rate and expand the secure transmission distance when used in QKD system. In this paper, we demonstrate a significant improvement in key rate and secure transmission distance when two-way classical communication is applied in MDI-QKD protocol. Additionally, to further improve the performance of the MDI-QKD system, we extend the two-way classical communication to MDI-QKD considering statistical fluctuations. Our simulation results show that the two-way classical communication method has great advantages in improving the performance of the actual MDI-QKD system.
The reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) has the advantage of tolerating reference frames that slowly vary. It can generate secure keys between two remote users with slowly drifted and unknown reference frames. However, the drift of reference frames may inevitably compromise the performance of QKD systems. In the paper, we employ the advantage distillation technology (ADT) to the RFI-QKD and the RFI measurement-device-independent QKD (RFI MDI-QKD), and we then analyze the effect of ADT on the performance of decoy-state RFI-QKD and RFI MDI-QKD in both asymptotic and nonasymptotic cases. The simulation results show that ADT can significantly improve the maximum transmission distance and the maximum tolerable background error rate. Furthermore, the performance of RFI-QKD and RFI MDI-QKD in terms of the secret key rate and maximum transmission distance are still greatly improved when statistical fluctuations are taken into account. Our work combines the merits of the ADT and RFI-QKD protocols, which further enhances the robustness and practicability of QKD systems.
Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) has been proven to be very useful and practical under realistic environment. Here, we present a scheme for one-decoy state RFI-QKD based on the work of Rusca et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 171104 (2018)], and carry out investigation on its performance under realistic experimental conditions. Numerical simulation results show that the one-decoy state RFI-QKD can achieve comparable performance in terms of secret key rate and transmission distance as the two-decoy state correspondence under practical experimental conditions. On contrast, it does not need to prepare the vacuum state in the former case, substantially reducing the experimental complexity and random number consumptions. Therefore, our present proposal seems very promising in practical implementations of RFI-QKD.
Decoy states have recently been proposed as a useful method for substantially improving the performance of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols when a coherent-state source is used. Previously, data postprocessing schemes based on one-way classical communications were considered for use with decoy states. In this paper, we develop two data postprocessing schemes for the decoy-state method using two-way classical communications. Our numerical simulation (using parameters from a specific QKD experiment as an example) results show that our scheme is able to extend the maximal secure distance from 142km142\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{km}142km (using only one-way classical communications with decoy states) to 181km181\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{km}181km. The second scheme is able to achieve a 10% greater key generation rate in the whole regime of distances. We conclude that decoy-state QKD with two-way classical postprocessing is of practical interest.
Abstract Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) can avoid real-time calibration operation of reference frames and improve the efficiency of the communication process. However, due to imperfections of optical devices, there will inevitably exist intensity fluctuations in the source side of the QKD system, which will affect the final secure key rate. To reduce the influence of intensity fluctuations, an improved 3-intensity RFI-QKD scheme is proposed in this paper. After considering statistical fluctuations and implementing global parameter optimization, we conduct corresponding simulation analysis. The results show that our present work can present both higher key rate and a farther transmission distance than the standard method.
Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) can generate secure keys between two remote peers with an unknown and slowly drifted reference frame. It adopts a statistical quantity C independent of the rotation of the reference frame to estimate the eavesdropper’s knowledge. However, in practical scenarios, the estimation of C should be completed with data collected in a short period of time, since the variation of the reference frame during the run will smear its correlations. In this paper, we propose to improve the performance of RFI-QKD with a new, to the best of our knowledge, statistical quantity R , which is less sensitive to statistical fluctuations and more robust to the variation of the reference frame, and obtain an analytical bound to estimate the eavesdropper’s knowledge. Simulation results show that the performance of RFI-QKD in the non-asymptotic case can be significantly promoted, which is very promising in practical QKD systems. Furthermore, we apply the new statistical quantity R to the RFI measurement-device-independent QKD (RFI-MDI-QKD) protocol and demonstrate that significant improvement can also be obtained in RFI-MDI-QKD.