Unconditional Security of Single-Photon Differential Phase Shift Quantum Key Distribution

In this Letter, we prove the unconditional security of single-photon differential phase shift quantum key distribution (DPS-QKD) protocol, based on the conversion to an equivalent entanglement-based protocol. We estimate the upper bound of the phase error rate from the bit error rate, and show that DPS-QKD can generate unconditionally secure key when the bit error rate is not greater than 4.12%. This proof is the first step to the unconditional security proof of coherent state DPS-QKD.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; shorten the length, improve clarity, and correct typos; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

On the geometric distance between quantum states with positive partial transposition and private states

We prove an analytic positive lower bound for the geometric distance between entangled positive partial transpose (PPT) states of a broad class and any private state that delivers one secure key bit. Our proof holds for any Hilbert space of finite dimension. Although our result is proven for a specific class of PPT states, we show that our bound nonetheless holds for all known entangled PPT states with non-zero distillable key rates whether or not they are in our special class.Comment: 16 page

Error tolerance of two-basis quantum key-distribution protocols using qudits and two-way classical communication

We investigate the error tolerance of quantum cryptographic protocols using $d$-level systems. In particular, we focus on prepare-and-measure schemes that use two mutually unbiased bases and a key-distillation procedure with two-way classical communication. For arbitrary quantum channels, we obtain a sufficient condition for secret-key distillation which, in the case of isotropic quantum channels, yields an analytic expression for the maximally tolerable error rate of the cryptographic protocols under consideration. The difference between the tolerable error rate and its theoretical upper bound tends slowly to zero for sufficiently large dimensions of the information carriers.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Passive sources for the Bennett-Brassard 1984 quantum key distribution protocol with practical signals

Most experimental realizations of quantum key distribution are based on the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (so-called BB84) protocol. In a typical optical implementation of this scheme, the sender uses an active source to produce the required BB84 signal states. While active state preparation of BB84 signals is a simple and elegant solution in principle, in practice passive state preparation might be desirable in some scenarios, for instance, in those experimental setups operating at high transmission rates. Passive schemes might also be more robust against side-channel attacks than active sources. Typical passive devices involve parametric down-conversion. In this paper, we show that both coherent light and practical single photon sources are also suitable for passive generation of BB84 signal states. Our method does not require any external-driven element, but only linear optical components and photodetectors. In the case of coherent light, the resulting key rate is similar to the one delivered by an active source. When the sender uses practical single photon sources, however, the distance covered by a passive transmitter might be longer than the one of an active configuration.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Numerical simulations of mixed states quantum computation

We describe quantum-octave package of functions useful for simulations of quantum algorithms and protocols. Presented package allows to perform simulations with mixed states. We present numerical implementation of important quantum mechanical operations - partial trace and partial transpose. Those operations are used as building blocks of algorithms for analysis of entanglement and quantum error correction codes. Simulation of Shor's algorithm is presented as an example of package capabilities.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at Foundations of Quantum Information, 16th-19th April 2004, Camerino, Ital

Security of distributed-phase-reference quantum key distribution

Distributed-phase-reference quantum key distribution stands out for its easy implementation with present day technology. Since many years, a full security proof of these schemes in a realistic setting has been elusive. For the first time, we solve this long standing problem and present a generic method to prove the security of such protocols against general attacks. To illustrate our result we provide lower bounds on the key generation rate of a variant of the coherent-one-way quantum key distribution protocol. In contrast to standard predictions, it appears to scale quadratically with the system transmittance.Comment: 4 pages + appendix, 4 figure

Constructing Entanglement Witness Via Real Skew-Symmetric Operators

In this work, new types of EWs are introduced. They are constructed by using real skew-symmetric operators defined on a single party subsystem of a bipartite dxd system and a maximal entangled state in that system. A canonical form for these witnesses is proposed which is called canonical EW in corresponding to canonical real skew-symmetric operator. Also for each possible partition of the canonical real skew-symmetric operator corresponding EW is obtained. The method used for dxd case is extended to d1xd2 systems. It is shown that there exist Cd2xd1 distinct possibilities to construct EWs for a given d1xd2 Hilbert space. The optimality and nd-optimality problem is studied for each type of EWs. In each step, a large class of quantum PPT states is introduced. It is shown that among them there exist entangled PPT states which are detected by the constructed witnesses. Also the idea of canonical EWs is extended to obtain other EWs with greater PPT entanglement detection power.Comment: 40 page

On single-photon quantum key distribution in the presence of loss

We investigate two-way and one-way single-photon quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols in the presence of loss introduced by the quantum channel. Our analysis is based on a simple precondition for secure QKD in each case. In particular, the legitimate users need to prove that there exists no separable state (in the case of two-way QKD), or that there exists no quantum state having a symmetric extension (one-way QKD), that is compatible with the available measurements results. We show that both criteria can be formulated as a convex optimisation problem known as a semidefinite program, which can be efficiently solved. Moreover, we prove that the solution to the dual optimisation corresponds to the evaluation of an optimal witness operator that belongs to the minimal verification set of them for the given two-way (or one-way) QKD protocol. A positive expectation value of this optimal witness operator states that no secret key can be distilled from the available measurements results. We apply such analysis to several well-known single-photon QKD protocols under losses.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure