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arXiv:quant-ph/0609195 · Physical Review A

Quantum key distribution with passive decoy state selection

Wolfgang Mauerer, Christine Silberhorn

Published May 31, 2007• 102 citations
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Abstract

We propose a quantum key distribution scheme which closely matches the performance of a perfect single photon source. It nearly attains the physical upper bound in terms of key generation rate and maximally achievable distance. Our scheme relies on a practical setup based on a parametric downconversion source and present day, nonideal photon-number detection. Arbitrary experimental imperfections which lead to bit errors are included. We select decoy states by classical postprocessing. This allows one to improve the effective signal statistics and achievable distance.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.050305

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We propose a quantum key distribution scheme which closely matches the performance of a perfect single photon source. It nearly attains the physical upper bound in terms of key generation rate and maximally achievable distance. Our scheme relies on a practical setup based on a parametric downconversion source and present day, nonideal photon-number detection. Arbitrary experimental imperfections which lead to bit errors are included. We select decoy states by classical postprocessing. This allows one to improve the effective signal statistics and achievable distance.
The passive decoy scheme represents a quantum key distribution protocol that employs a photon number resolving detector to selectively extract the decoy states from the signal states during post-processing. This selection process ensures resilience against attacks capable of distinguishing between these two states, thereby enhancing the security of the protocol. Previous research has emphasized the good performance of the protocol under optimal conditions. However, our study focuses on numerically evaluating the protocol performance in various practical scenarios. We aim to understand the implications of these scenarios in terms of the maximum attainable attenuation and bit rate per second, considering the number of photons per pulse sent under specific experimental conditions. Our findings demonstrate that opting for a low average photon number value ensures high tolerance to attenuation during communication, albeit at the cost of a reduced bit rate per second. Conversely, for lower attenuations, it is more advantageous to increase the average number of photons, even if it deviates from the ideal behaviour of a single-photon source. The benefit of selecting the decoy states at the end of the transmission remains consistent across different configurations. This research signifies an advancement in assessing the viability of incorporating the protocol within a practical QKD network.
We propose an efficient quantum key distribution protocol based on the photon-pair generation from parametric down-conversion (PDC). It uses the same experimental setup as the conventional protocol, but a refined data analysis enables detection of photon-number splitting attacks by utilizing information from a built-in decoy state. Assuming the use of practical detectors, we analyze the unconditional security of the new scheme and show that it improves the secure key generation rate by several orders of magnitude at long distances, using a high intensity PDC source.
In this paper, a new decoy state scheme for quantum key distribution with parametric down-conversion source is proposed. We use both three-intensity decoy states and their triggered and nontriggered components to estimate the fraction of single-photon counts and the quantum bit-error rate of single-photon pulses, and then deduce a more accurate value of the key generation rate. The final key rate over transmission distance is simulated, which shows that we can obtain a higher key rate than that of the existing methods, including our own earlier work.
We propose a quantum key distribution scheme that combines a biased basis choice with the decoy-state method. In this scheme, Alice sends all signal states in the Z basis and decoy states in the X and Z basis with certain probabilities, and Bob measures received pulses with optimal basis choice. This scheme simplifies the system and reduces the random number consumption. From the simulation result taking into account of statistical fluctuations, we find that in a typical experimental setup, the proposed scheme can increase the key rate by at least 45% comparing to the standard decoy-state scheme. In the postprocessing, we also apply a rigorous method to upper bound the phase error rate of the single-photon components of signal states.
Parametric down-conversion (PDC) sources can be used as triggered single photon sources in quantum key distribution (QKD). Recently, there have been several practical proposals of the decoy state QKD with triggering PDC sources. In this paper, we generalize the passive decoy state idea, originally proposed by Mauerer and Silberhorn. The generalized passive decoy state idea can be applied to cases where either threshold detectors or photon-number-resolving detectors are used. The decoy state protocol proposed by Adachi, Yamamoto, Koashi and Imoto (AYKI) can be treated as a special case of the generalized passive decoy state method. By simulating a recent PDC experiment, we compare various practical decoy state protocols with the infinite decoy state protocol and also compare the cases using threshold detectors and photon-number-resolving detectors. Our simulation result shows that with the AYKI protocol, one can achieve a key generation rate that is close to the theoretical limit of an infinite decoy state protocol. Furthermore, our simulation result shows that a photon-number-resolving detector appears to be not very useful for improving QKD performance in this case. Although our analysis is focused on QKD with PDC sources, we emphasize that it can also be applied to QKD setups with other triggered single photon sources.
We present a new scheme for realizing passive decoy-state quantum key distribution with the SARG04 protocol. It is based on parametric down-conversion sources, and we do not need to modulate the pumping light into different intensities. By applying local-mode-splitting detections on Alice’s side, legitimate users can obtain four different kinds of counting events on Bob’s side, due to intrinsic correlations between photon pairs from parametric down-conversion processes. In the new scheme, we do not need to modulate signal pulses into different intensities and can, thus, avoid introducing any intensity modulating uncertainty. As a result, quite precise estimations of single- or multi-photon-pulse contributions can be obtained, enabling better performance of the key generation rate and transmission distance compared with other existing SARG04 protocols, e.g., the four-intensity decoy-state method using either parametric down-conversion sources or weak coherent sources. Besides, through comparisons, we also find that the proposed new passive decoy-state SARG04 protocol can also show some superiority over the conventional three-intensity decoy-state BB84 protocol at long transmission distances under certain experimental conditions.