中国物理B ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (11): 110305-110305.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/26/11/110305

• GENERAL • 上一篇    下一篇

Performance optimization for quantum key distribution in lossy channel using entangled photons

Yu Yang(杨玉), Luping Xu(许录平), Bo Yan(阎博), Hongyang Zhang(张洪阳), Yanghe Shen(申洋赫)   

  1. 1. School of Aerospace Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710126, China;
    2. Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China
  • 收稿日期:2017-04-28 修回日期:2017-08-06 出版日期:2017-11-05 发布日期:2017-11-05
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61573059, 61401340, and 61172138), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2016JM6035), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. JB161303).

Performance optimization for quantum key distribution in lossy channel using entangled photons

Yu Yang(杨玉)1, Luping Xu(许录平)1, Bo Yan(阎博)1, Hongyang Zhang(张洪阳)1, Yanghe Shen(申洋赫)2   

  1. 1. School of Aerospace Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710126, China;
    2. Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China
  • Received:2017-04-28 Revised:2017-08-06 Online:2017-11-05 Published:2017-11-05
  • Contact: Luping Xu E-mail:xidian_lpx@163.com
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61573059, 61401340, and 61172138), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2016JM6035), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. JB161303).

摘要: In quantum key distribution (QKD), the times of arrival of single photons are important for the keys extraction and time synchronization. The time-of-arrival (TOA) accuracy can affect the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and the final key rate. To achieve a higher accuracy and a better QKD performance, different from designing more complicated hardware circuits, we present a scheme that uses the mean TOA of M frequency-entangled photons to replace the TOA of a single photon. Moreover, to address the problem that the entanglement property is usually sensitive to the photon loss in practice, we further propose two schemes, which adopt partially entangled photons and grouping-entangled photons, respectively. In addition, we compare the effects of these three alternative schemes on the QKD performance and discuss the selection strategy for the optimal scheme in detail. The simulation results show that the proposed schemes can improve the QKD performance compared to the conventional single-photon scheme obviously, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

关键词: quantum key distribution, time of arrival, quantum bit error rate, key rate

Abstract: In quantum key distribution (QKD), the times of arrival of single photons are important for the keys extraction and time synchronization. The time-of-arrival (TOA) accuracy can affect the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and the final key rate. To achieve a higher accuracy and a better QKD performance, different from designing more complicated hardware circuits, we present a scheme that uses the mean TOA of M frequency-entangled photons to replace the TOA of a single photon. Moreover, to address the problem that the entanglement property is usually sensitive to the photon loss in practice, we further propose two schemes, which adopt partially entangled photons and grouping-entangled photons, respectively. In addition, we compare the effects of these three alternative schemes on the QKD performance and discuss the selection strategy for the optimal scheme in detail. The simulation results show that the proposed schemes can improve the QKD performance compared to the conventional single-photon scheme obviously, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Key words: quantum key distribution, time of arrival, quantum bit error rate, key rate

中图分类号:  (Quantum algorithms, protocols, and simulations)

  • 03.67.Ac
03.67.Hk (Quantum communication) 42.50.Ex (Optical implementations of quantum information processing and transfer)