Privacy amplification is an indispensable step in postprocessing of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), which is used to distill unconditional secure keys from identical corrected keys between two distant legal parties. The processing speed of privacy amplification has a significant effect on the secret key rate of CV-QKD system. We report the high-speed parallel implementation of length-compatible privacy amplification algorithm based on graphic processing unit. Length-compatible algorithm is used to satisfy the security requirement of privacy amplification at different transmission distances when considering finite-size effect. We achieve the speed of privacy amplification over 1 Gbps at arbitrary input length and the speed is one to two orders of magnitude faster than previous demonstrations, which supports high-speed real-time CV-QKD system and ensures the security of privacy amplification.

The entropic uncertainty relation (EUR) is of significant importance in the security proof of continuous-variable quantum key distribution under coherent attacks. The parameter estimation in the EUR method contains the estimation of the covariance matrix (CM), as well as the max-entropy. The discussions in previous works have not involved the effect of finite-size on estimating the CM, which will further affect the estimation of leakage information. In this work, we address this issue by adapting the parameter estimation technique to the EUR analysis method under composable security frameworks. We also use the double-data modulation method to improve the parameter estimation step, where all the states can be exploited for both parameter estimation and key generation; thus, the statistical fluctuation of estimating the max-entropy disappears. The result shows that the adapted method can effectively estimate parameters in EUR analysis. Moreover, the double-data modulation method can, to a large extent, save the key consumption, which further improves the performance in practical implementations of the EUR.

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Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) offers the specific advantage of sharing keys remotely by the use of standard telecom components, thereby promoting cost-effective and high-performance metropolitan applications. Nevertheless, the introduction of high-rate spectrum broadening has pushed CVQKD from a single-mode to a continuous-mode region, resulting in the adoption of modern digital signal processing (DSP) technologies to recover quadrature information from continuous-mode quantum states. However, the security proof of DSP involving multi-point processing is a missing step. Here, we propose a generalized method of analyzing continuous-mode state processing by linear DSP via temporal modes theory. The construction of temporal modes is key in reducing the security proof to single-mode scenarios. The proposed practicality oriented security analysis method paves the way for building classical compatible digital CVQKD.

The optical phase shifter that constantly rotates the local oscillator phase is a necessity in continuous-variable quantum key distribution systems with heterodyne detection. In previous experimental implementations, the optical phase shifter is generally regarded as an ideal passive optical device that perfectly rotates the phase of the electromagnetic wave of 90 ∘ . However, the optical phase shifter in practice introduces imperfections, mainly the measurement angular error, which inevitably deteriorates the security of the practical systems. Here, we will give a concrete interpretation of measurement angular error in practical systems and the corresponding entanglement-based description. Subsequently, from the parameter estimation, we deduce the overestimated excess noise and the underestimated transmittance, which lead to a reduction in the final secret key rate. Simultaneously, we propose an estimation method of the measurement angular error. Next, the practical security analysis is provided in detail, and the effect of the measurement angular error and its corresponding compensation scheme are demonstrated. We conclude that measurement angular error severely degrades the security, but the proposed calibration and compensation method can significantly help improve the performance of the practical CV-QKD systems.