Practical aspects of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Xu, Feihu; Curty, Marcos; Qi, Bing; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/15/11/113007

Cited by 151 publications

(166 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, we use a rather generic channel model that includes an intrinsic error rate that simulates the misalignment and instability of the optical system. This is done by placing a unitary rotation in both input arms of the 50:50 beam splitter, and another unitary rotation in one of its output arms 48 . In addition, we fix the security bound to E ¼ 10 À 10 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite-key analysis for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

et al. 2014

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Quantum key distribution promises unconditionally secure communications. However, as practical devices tend to deviate from their specifications, the security of some practical systems is no longer valid. In particular, an adversary can exploit imperfect detectors to learn a large part of the secret key, even though the security proof claims otherwise. Recently, a practical approach-measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution-has been proposed to solve this problem. However, so far its security has only been fully proven under the assumption that the legitimate users of the system have unlimited resources. Here we fill this gap and provide a rigorous security proof against general attacks in the finite-key regime. This is obtained by applying large deviation theory, specifically the Chernoff bound, to perform parameter estimation. For the first time we demonstrate the feasibility of long-distance implementations of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution within a reasonable time frame of signal transmission.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite-key analysis for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

et al. 2014

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“…emitted by Alice (l = i) and Bob (l = j), which are used to estimate the coincidence counts at Charlie's detectors [11,12]. The random variable τ in Eq.…”

Section: G Theoretical Estimation Of the Visibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their high sensitivity and complex design, detectors are the most frequently attacked components. Recently it was shown that two-photon interference [11] from independent light sources can be exploited to avoid the use of detectors at the two ends of the communication channel [12,13]. This new form of detection-safe quantum cryptography, called Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI-QKD), has been experimentally demonstrated [13][14][15][16][17][18], but with modest delivered key rates.…”

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Quantum key distribution without detector vulnerabilities using optically seeded lasers

Comandar¹,

Lucamarini²,

Fröhlich³

et al. 2016

Nature Photon

238

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Security in quantum cryptography [1, 2] is continuously challenged by inventive attacks [3][4][5][6][7] targeting the real components of a cryptographic setup, and duly restored by new countermeasures [8][9][10] to foil them. Due to their high sensitivity and complex design, detectors are the most frequently attacked components. Recently it was shown that two-photon interference [11] from independent light sources can be exploited to avoid the use of detectors at the two ends of the communication channel [12,13]. This new form of detection-safe quantum cryptography, called Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI-QKD), has been experimentally demonstrated [13][14][15][16][17][18], but with modest delivered key rates.Here we introduce a novel pulsed laser seeding technique to obtain high-visibility interference from gain-switched lasers and thereby perform quantum cryptography without detector vulnerabilities with unprecedented bit rates, in excess of 1 Mb/s. This represents a 2 to 6 orders of magnitude improvement over existing implementations and for the first time promotes the new scheme as a practical resource for quantum secure communications. * marco.lucamarini@crl.toshiba.co.uk arXiv:1509.08137v2 [quant-ph] In Quantum Cryptography, a sender Alice transmits encoded quantum signals to a receiver Bob, who measures them and distils a secret string of bits with the sender via public discussion [1].Ideally, the use of quantum signals guarantees the information-theoretical security of the communication [2]. In practice, however, Quantum Cryptography is implemented with real components, which can deviate from the ideal description. This can be exploited to circumvent the quantum protection if the users are unaware of the problem [19].Usually the most complex components are also the most vulnerable. Therefore the vast majority of the attacks performed so far have targeted Bob's single photon detectors [3][4][5][6][7]. 13] is a recent form of Quantum Cryptography conceived to remove the problem of detector vulnerability. As depicted in Fig. 1(a), two light pulses are independently encoded and sent by Alice and Bob to a central node, Charlie. This is similar to a quantum access network configuration [20], but in MDI-QKD the central node does not need to be trusted and could even attempt to steal information from Alice and Bob. To follow the MDI-QKD protocol, Charlie must let the two light pulses interfere at the beam splitter inside his station and then measure them. The result can disclose the correlation between the bits encoded by the users, but not their actual values, which therefore remain secret. If Charlie violates the protocol and measures the pulses separately, he can learn the absolute values of the bits, but not their correlation. Therefore he cannot announce the correct correlation to the users, who will then unveil his attempt through public discussion.Irrespective of Charlie's choice, the users' apparatuses no longer need a detector and the detection vulnerability of Quantum Cryp...

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“…We perform a numerical simulation to optimize the performance [28]: average photon numbers are chosen to be µ = 0.3 for the signal state, ν = 0.1 and ω = 0.01 for the two decoy states [29]; the ratio of numbers of pulses sent out with intensities µ, ν, and ω is set to be 4 : 9 : 7. Active phase randomization is implemented to defend against attacks on the imperfect weak coherent sources.…”

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Experimental Demonstration of Polarization Encoding Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

et al. 2014

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We demonstrate the first implementation of polarization encoding measurement-deviceindependent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), which is immune to all detector side-channel attacks. Active phase randomization of each individual pulse is implemented to protect against attacks on imperfect sources. By optimizing the parameters in the decoy state protocol, we show that it is feasible to implement polarization encoding MDI-QKD over large optical fiber distances. A 1600-bit secure key is generated between two parties separated by 10 km of telecom fibers. Our work suggests the possibility of building a MDI-QKD network, in which complicated and expensive detection system is placed in a central node and users connected to it can perform confidential communication by preparing polarization qubits with compact and low-cost equipment. Since MDI-QKD is highly compatible with the quantum network, our work brings the realization of quantum internet one step closer. Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two parties, normally referred to as Alice and Bob, to generate a private key even with the presence of an eavesdropper, Eve [1,2]. With perfect single photon sources and single photon detectors, the security of QKD is guaranteed by quantum mechanics [3]. However, the aforementioned perfect devices are not available today and the security of QKD cannot be guaranteed in real life implementation. For example, attenuated coherent laser pulses are commonly used in practical QKD setups, which makes the QKD system vulnerable to the photon number splitting (PNS) attack [4]. Fortunately, it has been shown that the unconditional security of QKD can still be assured with phase randomized weak coherent pulses [5]. Furthermore, by applying decoy state techniques [6], secure key rate can be dramatically increased in practical implementations [7]. Nonetheless, other imperfections in practical QKD systems still present loopholes that can be exploited by Eve to steal the secret key [8,9]. We remark that most of the identified security loopholes are due to imperfections in the detection systems [8].Much effort has been put to build loophole-free QKD systems with practical devices. On one hand, people have been trying to build a better model to understand all the imperfections in a QKD detection system [10], but it is almost impossible to guarantee that all the loopholes have been fixed. On the other hand, full device-independent QKD (DI-QKD) has been proposed to close all the loopholes due to devices' imperfections [11]. The security of DI-QKD relies on the violation of Bell's inequality and does not require any knowledge of how practical QKD devices work. However, the demand for single photon detectors with near unity detection efficiency and the low key rate make this protocol highly impractical [12].Fortunately, measurement-device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD), which removes all loopholes in detec- arXiv:1306.6134v2 [quant-ph]

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Practical aspects of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Cited by 151 publications

References 59 publications

Finite-key analysis for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Finite-key analysis for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution without detector vulnerabilities using optically seeded lasers

Experimental Demonstration of Polarization Encoding Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

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