Reference-Frame-Independent Design of Phase-Matching Quantum Key Distribution

Abstract

The recently proposed phase-matching quantum key distribution offers means to overcome the linear key rate-transmittance bound. Since the key information is encoded onto the phases of coherent states, the misalignment between the two remote reference frames would yield errors and significantly degrade the key generation rate from the ideal case. In this work, we propose a reference-frame-independent design of phase-matching quantum key distribution by introducing a high-dimensional key encoding space. With encoded phases spanning the unit circle, the error statistics at arbitrary fixed-phase-reference difference can be recovered and treated separately, from which the misalignment angle can be identified. By naturally extending the binary encoding symmetry and complementarity to high dimensions, we present a security proof of this high-dimensional phase-matching quantum key distribution and demonstrate with simulation that a 17-dimensional protocol is completely immune to any degree of fixed misalignment and robust to slow phase fluctuations. We expect the high-dimensional protocol to be a practical reference-frameindependent design for general phase-encoding schemes where high-dimensional encoding is relatively easy to implement.

Device-independent quantum secure direct communication with single photon sources

“…Quantum key distribution can distribute secure keys between the sender and the receiver, which was proposed in 1984 [1]. Quantum key distribution has been widely investigated in both theory and experiment [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. QSDC allows the message sender to directly transmit secret messages to the receiver without keys .…”

Measurement-device-independent one-step quantum secure direct communication

“…[1] Combined with extra one-time pad and the one-way classical communication, the communication parties can realize the secure communication. During past decades, QKD has made great progress in both theory [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and experiment. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] For example, in the theory aspect, the device-independent (DI) QKD [4] and measurement-device-independent (MDI) QKD can efficiently enhance QKD's security under practical imperfect experimental condition.…”

Phase-matching quantum key distribution with light source monitoring

“…PM-QKD protocol could not only exceed the linear key rate limit, but also resist all probe attacks due to the independence of the measurement device. Recently, Ma et al [23] have proposed the reference-frame-independent design for PM-QKD protocol, which can well solve the performance degradation of reference system caused by offset. However, the quantum state prepared at the source was assumed to be an ideal coherent state in the original PM-QKD protocol.…”