Design and Evaluation of a Handheld Quantum Key Distribution Sender module

Vest, Gwenaëlle; Rau, Markus; Fuchs, Lukas; Corrielli, Giacomo; Weier, Henning; Nauerth, Sebastian; Crespi, Andrea; Osellame, Roberto; Weinfurter, Harald

doi:10.1109/jstqe.2014.2364131

Cited by 55 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…A LiNbO 3 integrated polarisation controller was used for state preparation in a QKD implementation, 73 whereas several techniques were combined to construct a handheld QKD sender module in ref. 74. More recently, a QKD transmitter chip that is reconfigurable to accommodate the state preparation for several QKD protocols, including decoy-state BB84, coherent-one-way and DPS, has been developed on InP techniques, which will be essential for developing complete integrated systems.…”

Section: Major Challenges In Performance and Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical challenges in quantum key distribution

Diamanti¹,

Lo²,

Qi³

et al. 2016

npj Quantum Inf

647

468

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) promises unconditional security in data communication and is currently being deployed in commercial applications. Nonetheless, before QKD can be widely adopted, it faces a number of important challenges such as secret key rate, distance, size, cost and practical security. Here, we survey those key challenges and the approaches that are currently being taken to address them. For thousands of years, human beings have been using codes to keep secrets. With the rise of the Internet and recent trends to the Internet of Things, our sensitive personal financial and health data as well as commercial and national secrets are routinely being transmitted through the Internet. In this context, communication security is of utmost importance. In conventional symmetric cryptographic algorithms, communication security relies solely on the secrecy of an encryption key. If two users, Alice and Bob, share a long random string of secret bits-the key-then they can achieve unconditional security by encrypting their message using the standard one-time-pad encryption scheme. The central question then is: how do Alice and Bob share a secure key in the first place? This is called the key distribution problem. Unfortunately, all classical methods to distribute a secure key are fundamentally insecure because in classical physics there is nothing preventing an eavesdropper, Eve, from copying the key during its transit from Alice to Bob. On the other hand, standard asymmetric or public-key cryptography solves the key distribution problem by relying on computational assumptions such as the hardness of factoring. Therefore, such schemes do not provide information-theoretic security because they are vulnerable to future advances in hardware and algorithms, including the construction of a large-scale quantum computer.

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Section: Major Challenges In Performance and Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical challenges in quantum key distribution

Diamanti¹,

Lo²,

Qi³

et al. 2016

npj Quantum Inf

647

468

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Work in developing light sources for DV-QKD is ongoing at various groups. For protocols relying on weak coherent pulses, there are now very compact designs using laser diodes and waveguide-based polarization rotators [65]. Space capable polarization-entangled photon-pair sources to enable BBM92 or E91 protocols are also at various stages of development [67,72].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A drawback of this approach is that the spectra of the diodes are not always identical and provide a possible side-channel for eavesdroppers [64]. This side-channel was closed in a recent development where a single laser diode was coupled to four (direct-write) waveguides, each of which was capable of a fixed amount of polarization rotation [65]. The waveguides were then recombined to result in a singlemode output with four possible polarization states.…”

Section: A Photon Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress in satellite quantum key distribution

2017

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a family of protocols for growing a private encryption key between two parties. Despite much progress, all ground-based QKD approaches have a distance limit due to atmospheric losses or in-fibre attenuation. These limitations make purely ground-based systems impractical for a global distribution network. However, the range of communication may be extended by employing satellites equipped with high-quality optical links. This manuscript summarizes research and development which is beginning to enable QKD with satellites. It includes a discussion of protocols, infrastructure, and the technical challenges involved with implementing such systems, as well as a top level summary of on-going satellite QKD initiatives around the world.

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“…The type of equipment needed for the above setup is within reach of our current quantum and classical technologies. With recent progress in integrated QKD devices [43], [44], [45], it is possible to think of a portable device equipped with QKD capabilities. A handheld QKD prototype has, in fact, already been implemented for short-range handheld-to-ATM key exchange [23], [24].…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wireless quantum key distribution in indoor environments

Elmabrok¹,

Razavi²

2018

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

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We propose and study the feasibility of wireless quantum key distribution (QKD) in indoor environments. Such systems are essential in providing wireless access to the developing quantum communications networks. We find a practical regime of operation, where, in the presence of external light sources and loss, secret keys can be exchanged. Our findings identify the trade-off between the acceptable amount of background light and the receiver field of view, where the latter specifies the type of equipment needed for the end user and its range of movements. In particular, we show that, using a proper setting, we can provide mobility for the QKD users without imposing stringent conditions on beam steering.Index Terms-BB84, decoy states, optical wireless communications (OWC), Quantum key distribution (QKD). I. INTRODUCTIONQ UANTUM key distribution (QKD) is a promising technology for achieving security in the quantum era [1]. It provides a secure way of distributing secret keys between two users over an optical channel [2], [3]. The security is guaranteed by the properties of quantum mechanics rather than computational complexity [4]. The latter is at the core of public key cryptography schemes, whose security is threatened by advanced algorithms that can be run on quantum computers [5], [6], [7], [8]. QKD offers a solution to this problem and will possibly be the most imminent application of quantum technologies in our daily life. It is important to utilize the advantages of this scheme not only in niche markets but also for the general public [9], [10]. This necessitates developing hybrid quantum-classical networks that support many users. This requires revisiting the requirements at both access and core parts of the network. This work focuses on the access networks, and, in particular, it addresses the wireless mode of access in indoor environments for such QKD networks. This would resemble a quantum Li-Fi system, possibly, in parallel with a classical Li-Fi, that enables end users to exchange secret keys with other network users in a convenient way [11].The current dominant approach for ensuring data security over the Internet is based on a combination of public-key cryptography, e.g. the RSA protocol [12], for exchanging a secret key/seed, and symmetric-key cryptography protocols, such as advanced encryption standard (AES) or secure hash algorithm, for encryption, decryption, and authentication. The security of RSA is, however, based on the computational complexity of the factoring problem. The latter does not have any known This work was presented in part at the IEEE Globecom Conf. 2015 held in San Diego, CA. This research has partly been funded by the UK EPSRC Grants EP/M506953/1 and EP/M013472/1, and the ministry of higher education and scientific research in Libya. Both authors are with the

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Design and Evaluation of a Handheld Quantum Key Distribution Sender module

Cited by 55 publications

References 32 publications

Practical challenges in quantum key distribution

Practical challenges in quantum key distribution

Progress in satellite quantum key distribution

Wireless quantum key distribution in indoor environments

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