567 research outputs found
Johnson(-like)-Noise-Kirchhoff-Loop Based Secure Classical Communicator Characteristics, for Ranges of Two to Two Thousand Kilometers, via Model-Line
A pair of Kirchhoff-Loop-Johnson(-like)-Noise communicators, which is able to
work over variable ranges, was designed and built. Tests have been carried out
on a model-line performance characteristics were obtained for ranges beyond the
ranges of any known direct quantum communication channel and they indicate
unrivalled signal fidelity and security performance of the exchanged raw key
bits. This simple device has single-wire secure key generation and sharing
rates of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 bit/second for corresponding copper wire
diameters/ranges of 21 mm / 2000 km, 7 mm / 200 km, 2.3 mm / 20 km, and 0.7 mm
/ 2 km, respectively and it performs with 0.02% raw-bit error rate (99.98 %
fidelity). The raw-bit security of this practical system significantly
outperforms raw-bit quantum security. Current injection breaking tests show
zero bit eavesdropping ability without triggering the alarm signal, therefore
no multiple measurements are needed to build an error statistics to detect the
eavesdropping as in quantum communication. Wire resistance based breaking tests
of Bergou-Scheuer-Yariv type give an upper limit of eavesdropped raw bit ratio
of 0.19 % and this limit is inversely proportional to the sixth power of cable
diameter. Hao's breaking method yields zero (below measurement resolution)
eavesdropping information.Comment: Featured in New Scientist, Jason Palmer, May 23, 2007.
http://www.ece.tamu.edu/%7Enoise/news_files/KLJN_New_Scientist.pdf
Corresponding Plenary Talk at the 4th International Symposium on Fluctuation
and Noise, Florence, Italy (May 23, 2007
Attacks on quantum key distribution protocols that employ non-ITS authentication
We demonstrate how adversaries with unbounded computing resources can break
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols which employ a particular message
authentication code suggested previously. This authentication code, featuring
low key consumption, is not Information-Theoretically Secure (ITS) since for
each message the eavesdropper has intercepted she is able to send a different
message from a set of messages that she can calculate by finding collisions of
a cryptographic hash function. However, when this authentication code was
introduced it was shown to prevent straightforward Man-In-The-Middle (MITM)
attacks against QKD protocols.
In this paper, we prove that the set of messages that collide with any given
message under this authentication code contains with high probability a message
that has small Hamming distance to any other given message. Based on this fact
we present extended MITM attacks against different versions of BB84 QKD
protocols using the addressed authentication code; for three protocols we
describe every single action taken by the adversary. For all protocols the
adversary can obtain complete knowledge of the key, and for most protocols her
success probability in doing so approaches unity.
Since the attacks work against all authentication methods which allow to
calculate colliding messages, the underlying building blocks of the presented
attacks expose the potential pitfalls arising as a consequence of non-ITS
authentication in QKD-postprocessing. We propose countermeasures, increasing
the eavesdroppers demand for computational power, and also prove necessary and
sufficient conditions for upgrading the discussed authentication code to the
ITS level.Comment: 34 page
Atmospheric Channel Characteristics for Quantum Communication with Continuous Polarization Variables
We investigate the properties of an atmospheric channel for free space
quantum communication with continuous polarization variables. In our
prepare-and-measure setup, coherent polarization states are transmitted through
an atmospheric quantum channel of 100m length on the roof of our institute's
building. The signal states are measured by homodyne detection with the help of
a local oscillator (LO) which propagates in the same spatial mode as the
signal, orthogonally polarized to it. Thus the interference of signal and LO is
excellent and atmospheric fluctuations are autocompensated. The LO also acts as
spatial and spectral filter, which allows for unrestrained daylight operation.
Important characteristics for our system are atmospheric channel influences
that could cause polarization, intensity and position excess noise. Therefore
we study these influences in detail. Our results indicate that the channel is
suitable for our quantum communication system in most weather conditions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Applied Physics B following an
invitation for the special issue "Selected Papers Presented at the 2009
Spring Meeting of the Quantum Optics and Photonics Section of the German
Physical Society
Experimental demonstration of a BDCZ quantum repeater node
Quantum communication is a method that offers efficient and secure ways for
the exchange of information in a network. Large-scale quantum communication (of
the order of 100 km) has been achieved; however, serious problems occur beyond
this distance scale, mainly due to inevitable photon loss in the transmission
channel. Quantum communication eventually fails when the probability of a dark
count in the photon detectors becomes comparable to the probability that a
photon is correctly detected. To overcome this problem, Briegel, D\"{u}r, Cirac
and Zoller (BDCZ) introduced the concept of quantum repeaters, combining
entanglement swapping and quantum memory to efficiently extend the achievable
distances. Although entanglement swapping has been experimentally demonstrated,
the implementation of BDCZ quantum repeaters has proved challenging owing to
the difficulty of integrating a quantum memory. Here we realize entanglement
swapping with storage and retrieval of light, a building block of the BDCZ
quantum repeater. We follow a scheme that incorporates the strategy of BDCZ
with atomic quantum memories. Two atomic ensembles, each originally entangled
with a single emitted photon, are projected into an entangled state by
performing a joint Bell state measurement on the two single photons after they
have passed through a 300-m fibre-based communication channel. The entanglement
is stored in the atomic ensembles and later verified by converting the atomic
excitations into photons. Our method is intrinsically phase insensitive and
establishes the essential element needed to realize quantum repeaters with
stationary atomic qubits as quantum memories and flying photonic qubits as
quantum messengers.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
De Broglie Wavelength of a Nonlocal Four-Photon
Superposition is one of the most distinct features of quantum theory and has
been demonstrated in numerous realizations of Young's classical double-slit
interference experiment and its analogues. However, quantum entanglement - a
significant coherent superposition in multiparticle systems - yields phenomena
that are much richer and more interesting than anything that can be seen in a
one-particle system. Among them, one important type of multi-particle
experiments uses path-entangled number-states, which exhibit pure higher-order
interference and allow novel applications in metrology and imaging such as
quantum interferometry and spectroscopy with phase sensitivity at the
Heisenberg limit or quantum lithography beyond the classical diffraction limit.
Up to now, in optical implementations of such schemes lower-order interference
effects would always decrease the overall performance at higher particle
numbers. They have thus been limited to two photons. We overcome this
limitation and demonstrate a linear-optics-based four-photon interferometer.
Observation of a four-particle mode-entangled state is confirmed by
interference fringes with a periodicity of one quarter of the single-photon
wavelength. This scheme can readily be extended to arbitrary photon numbers and
thus represents an important step towards realizable applications with
entanglement-enhanced performance.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, submitted on November 18, 200
Complete experimental toolbox for alignment-free quantum communication
Quantum communication employs the counter-intuitive features of quantum
physics to perform tasks that are im- possible in the classical world. It is
crucial for testing the foundations of quantum theory and promises to rev-
olutionize our information and communication technolo- gies. However, for two
or more parties to execute even the simplest quantum transmission, they must
establish, and maintain, a shared reference frame. This introduces a
considerable overhead in communication resources, par- ticularly if the parties
are in motion or rotating relative to each other. We experimentally demonstrate
how to circumvent this problem with the efficient transmission of quantum
information encoded in rotationally invariant states of single photons. By
developing a complete toolbox for the efficient encoding and decoding of
quantum infor- mation in such photonic qubits, we demonstrate the fea- sibility
of alignment-free quantum key-distribution, and perform a proof-of-principle
alignment-free entanglement distribution and violation of a Bell inequality.
Our scheme should find applications in fundamental tests of quantum mechanics
and satellite-based quantum communication.Comment: Main manuscript: 7 pages, 3 figures; Supplementary Information: 7
pages, 3 figure
Experimental Quantum Teleportation of a Two-Qubit Composite System
Quantum teleportation, a way to transfer the state of a quantum system from
one location to another, is central to quantum communication and plays an
important role in a number of quantum computation protocols. Previous
experimental demonstrations have been implemented with photonic or ionic
qubits. Very recently long-distance teleportation and open-destination
teleportation have also been realized. Until now, previous experiments have
only been able to teleport single qubits. However, since teleportation of
single qubits is insufficient for a large-scale realization of quantum
communication and computation2-5, teleportation of a composite system
containing two or more qubits has been seen as a long-standing goal in quantum
information science. Here, we present the experimental realization of quantum
teleportation of a two-qubit composite system. In the experiment, we develop
and exploit a six-photon interferometer to teleport an arbitrary polarization
state of two photons. The observed teleportation fidelities for different
initial states are all well beyond the state estimation limit of 0.40 for a
two-qubit system. Not only does our six-photon interferometer provide an
important step towards teleportation of a complex system, it will also enable
future experimental investigations on a number of fundamental quantum
communication and computation protocols such as multi-stage realization of
quantum-relay, fault-tolerant quantum computation, universal quantum
error-correction and one-way quantum computation.Comment: 16pages, 4 figure
Distributing entanglement and single photons through an intra-city, free-space quantum channel
We have distributed entangled photons directly through the atmosphere to a
receiver station 7.8 km away over the city of Vienna, Austria at night.
Detection of one photon from our entangled pairs constitutes a triggered single
photon source from the sender. With no direct time-stable connection, the two
stations found coincidence counts in the detection events by calculating the
cross-correlation of locally-recorded time stamps shared over a public internet
channel. For this experiment, our quantum channel was maintained for a total of
40 minutes during which time a coincidence lock found approximately 60000
coincident detection events. The polarization correlations in those events
yielded a Bell parameter, S=2.27/pm0.019, which violates the CHSH-Bell
inequality by 14 standard deviations. This result is promising for
entanglement-based free-space quantum communication in high-density urban
areas. It is also encouraging for optical quantum communication between ground
stations and satellites since the length of our free-space link exceeds the
atmospheric equivalent.Comment: 8 pages including 1 figure and 2 tables. The first two authors
contributed equally to this wor
Detector decoy quantum key distribution
Photon number resolving detectors can enhance the performance of many
practical quantum cryptographic setups. In this paper, we employ a simple
method to estimate the statistics provided by such a photon number resolving
detector using only a threshold detector together with a variable attenuator.
This idea is similar in spirit to that of the decoy state technique, and is
specially suited for those scenarios where only a few parameters of the photon
number statistics of the incoming signals have to be estimated. As an
illustration of the potential applicability of the method in quantum
communication protocols, we use it to prove security of an entanglement based
quantum key distribution scheme with an untrusted source without the need of a
squash model and by solely using this extra idea. In this sense, this detector
decoy method can be seen as a different conceptual approach to adapt a single
photon security proof to its physical, full optical implementation. We show
that in this scenario the legitimate users can now even discard the double
click events from the raw key data without compromising the security of the
scheme, and we present simulations on the performance of the BB84 and the
6-state quantum key distribution protocols.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure
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