Quantum Cryptography Beyond Quantum Key Distribution

Quantum cryptography is the art and science of exploiting quantum mechanical effects in order to perform cryptographic tasks. While the most well-known example of this discipline is quantum key distribution (QKD), there exist many other applications such as quantum money, randomness generation, secure two- and multi-party computation and delegated quantum computation. Quantum cryptography also studies the limitations and challenges resulting from quantum adversaries---including the impossibility of quantum bit commitment, the difficulty of quantum rewinding and the definition of quantum security models for classical primitives. In this review article, aimed primarily at cryptographers unfamiliar with the quantum world, we survey the area of theoretical quantum cryptography, with an emphasis on the constructions and limitations beyond the realm of QKD.Comment: 45 pages, over 245 reference

Robust Cryptography in the Noisy-Quantum-Storage Model

It was shown in [WST08] that cryptographic primitives can be implemented based on the assumption that quantum storage of qubits is noisy. In this work we analyze a protocol for the universal task of oblivious transfer that can be implemented using quantum-key-distribution (QKD) hardware in the practical setting where honest participants are unable to perform noise-free operations. We derive trade-offs between the amount of storage noise, the amount of noise in the operations performed by the honest participants and the security of oblivious transfer which are greatly improved compared to the results in [WST08]. As an example, we show that for the case of depolarizing noise in storage we can obtain secure oblivious transfer as long as the quantum bit-error rate of the channel does not exceed 11% and the noise on the channel is strictly less than the quantum storage noise. This is optimal for the protocol considered. Finally, we show that our analysis easily carries over to quantum protocols for secure identification.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures. v2: clarified novelty of results, improved security analysis using fidelity-based smooth min-entropy, v3: typos and additivity proof in appendix correcte

Experimental implementation of bit commitment in the noisy-storage model

Fundamental primitives such as bit commitment and oblivious transfer serve as building blocks for many other two-party protocols. Hence, the secure implementation of such primitives are important in modern cryptography. In this work, we present a bit commitment protocol which is secure as long as the attacker's quantum memory device is imperfect. The latter assumption is known as the noisy-storage model. We experimentally executed this protocol by performing measurements on polarization-entangled photon pairs. Our work includes a full security analysis, accounting for all experimental error rates and finite size effects. This demonstrates the feasibility of two-party protocols in this model using real-world quantum devices. Finally, we provide a general analysis of our bit commitment protocol for a range of experimental parameters.Comment: 21 pages (7 main text +14 appendix), 6+3 figures. New version changed author's name from Huei Ying Nelly Ng to Nelly Huei Ying Ng, for consistency with other publication

Implementation of two-party protocols in the noisy-storage model

The noisy-storage model allows the implementation of secure two-party protocols under the sole assumption that no large-scale reliable quantum storage is available to the cheating party. No quantum storage is thereby required for the honest parties. Examples of such protocols include bit commitment, oblivious transfer and secure identification. Here, we provide a guideline for the practical implementation of such protocols. In particular, we analyze security in a practical setting where the honest parties themselves are unable to perform perfect operations and need to deal with practical problems such as errors during transmission and detector inefficiencies. We provide explicit security parameters for two different experimental setups using weak coherent, and parametric down conversion sources. In addition, we analyze a modification of the protocols based on decoy states.Comment: 41 pages, 33 figures, this is a companion paper to arXiv:0906.1030 considering practical aspects, v2: published version, title changed in accordance with PRA guideline

Practical private database queries based on a quantum key distribution protocol

Private queries allow a user Alice to learn an element of a database held by a provider Bob without revealing which element she was interested in, while limiting her information about the other elements. We propose to implement private queries based on a quantum key distribution protocol, with changes only in the classical post-processing of the key. This approach makes our scheme both easy to implement and loss-tolerant. While unconditionally secure private queries are known to be impossible, we argue that an interesting degree of security can be achieved, relying on fundamental physical principles instead of unverifiable security assumptions in order to protect both user and database. We think that there is scope for such practical private queries to become another remarkable application of quantum information in the footsteps of quantum key distribution.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, new and improved version, clarified claims, expanded security discussio