基于非高斯态区分探测的往返式离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发方案

往返式离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发,无需使用两台独立的激光器也能本地生成本振光,并且信号光与本振光均来自于同一台激光器,在有效保证系统实际安全性的同时,具有较好的同频特性.此外,该方案与高效纠错码具有良好的兼容性,即使在低信噪比情况下也能获得较高的协商效率.然而,基于非可信信源模型的往返式光路结构存在较大的过噪声,严重限制离散调制方案的最大传输距离.针对这个问题,本文提出基于非高斯态区分探测的往返式离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发方案,即在探测端部署非高斯态区分探测器,采用自适应测量方法并结合贝叶斯推论,可以在满足低于标准量子极限错误概率的情况下无条件区分出基于四态离散调制的四种非正交相干态.本文详细分析了所提出的基于非高斯态区分探测的往返式离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发方案的安全性,包括渐近情况与有限长效应情况.仿真结果表明所提出的方案相比于原始方案,即使在有信源噪声的情况下,其密钥率与最大传输距离仍然有明显的提升.这些结果表明本方案能够有效降低往返式离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发方案中非可信信源噪声对方案性能的负面影响,在保证系统实际安全性的同时,实现更高效、更远传输距离的量子密钥分发.     

基于光前置放大器的量子密钥分发融合经典通信方案

量子密钥分发融合经典通信方案将连续变量量子密钥分发和经典通信合并到了一起,为将来在现有的光网络上同时进行密钥分发和经典通信提供了一个有效的方法.然而,在量子信号上叠加一个经典信号将会给连续变量量子密钥分发系统引入过噪声从而大大降低系统的性能.本文提出基于光前置放大器的量子密钥分发融合经典通信方案,即在接收端插入光前置放大器来提升系统的性能.首先,在相同比特误码率条件下,光前置放大器对信号的放大能够降低对发送端经典信号调制振幅的要求,从而降低经典信号对量子信号的噪声影响;其次,光前置放大器能够补偿接收端探测器的不完美;再次,对于本地本振光的情形,放大器还能放大弱相位参考脉冲,从而降低参考脉冲散粒噪声带来的相位过噪声.在实际可达到的系统参数下,数值仿真结果表明本文提出的方案相比于原方案在安全密钥率和传输距离上都有很好的提升.这些结果表明本方案为量子密钥分发融合经典通信方案的进一步发展和实际应用提供了一个十分有效而实用的方法.     

基于量子远程通信的连续变量量子确定性密钥分配协议

基于量子远程通信的原理, 本文借助双模压缩真空态和相干态, 提出一种连续变量量子确定性密钥分配协议. 在利用零差探测法的情况下协议的传输效率达到了100%. 从信息论的角度分析了协议的安全性, 结果表明该协议可以安全传送预先确定的密钥. 在密钥管理中, 量子确定性密钥分配协议具有量子随机性密钥分配协议不可替代的重要地位和作用. 与离散变量量子确定性密钥分配协议相比, 该协议分发密钥的速率和效率更高, 又协议中用到的连续变量量子态易于产生和操控、适于远距离传输, 因此该协议更具有实际意义.     

基于硬件同步的四态离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发

在连续变量量子密钥分发系统中,同步技术是确保通信双方时钟和数据一致的关键技术.本文通过巧妙设计发送端和接收端仪器的硬件时序,采用时域差拍探测方式和峰值采集技术,实验实现了可硬件同步的四态离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发.通信双方在设计好的硬件同步时序下可实现时钟的恢复和数据的自动对齐,无需借助软件算法实现数据的对齐.本文采用了加拿大滑铁卢大学Norbert Lütkenhaus研究组提出的针对连续变量离散调制协议的安全密钥速率计算方法.该方法需计算出接收端所测各种平移热态的一阶矩和二阶(非中心)矩,以此为约束条件结合凸优化算法可计算出安全密钥速率.计算过程中无需假设信道为线性信道,无需额外噪声的估算.密钥分发系统重复频率为10 MHz,传输距离为25 km,平均安全密钥比特率为24 kbit/s.本文提出的硬件同步方法无需过采样和软件帧同步,减小了系统的复杂度和计算量,在一定程度上降低了系统所需的成本、功耗和体积,有效地增强了连续变量量子密钥分发的实用性.     

利用无噪线性光放大器增加连续变量量子密钥分发最远传输距离

如何提高实际量子密钥分发系统的安全码率和最远传输距离是量子密码学领域重要的研究课题. 本文采用量子无噪线性光放大器放大量子信号, 以改进连续变量量子密钥分发系统实际性能. 经仔细研究, 本文发现增益系数为g的线性无噪放大器可将连续变量量子密钥分发系统的最远安全传输距离提高20 log₁₀(g)/a km (a=0.2 dB/km为光纤信道的损耗系数), 并改善系统的安全码率和噪声抗性. 关键词： 量子密钥分发 连续变量 最远传输距离 线性无噪放大器     

基于量子隐形传态的量子保密通信方案

量子保密通信包括量子密钥分发、量子安全直接通信和量子秘密共享等主要形式.在量子密钥分发和秘密共享中,传输的是随机数而不是信息,要再经过一次经典通信才能完成信息的传输.在量子信道直接传输信息的量子通信形式是量子安全直接通信.基于量子隐形传态的量子通信(简称量子隐形传态通信)是否属于量子安全直接通信尚需解释.构造了一个量子隐形传态通信方案,给出了具体的操作步骤.与一般的量子隐形传态不同,量子隐形传态通信所传输的量子态是计算基矢态,大大简化了贝尔基测量和单粒子操作.分析结果表明,量子隐形传态通信等价于包含了全用型量子密钥分发和经典通信的复合过程,不是量子安全直接通信,其传输受到中间介质和距离的影响,所以不比量子密钥分发更有优势.将该方案与量子密钥分发、量子安全直接通信和经典一次性便笺密码方案进行对比,通过几个通信参数的比较给出各个方案的特点,还特别讨论了各方案在空间量子通信方面的特点.     

基于正交频分复用的连续变量量子密钥分发方案

正交频分复用技术已被广泛应用于量子密钥分发系统研究中,在此提出了基于正交频分复用的连续变量量子密钥分发方案,连续变量量子密钥分发过程中发送方以快速傅立叶反变换调制复用子载波,接收方以快速傅立叶变换得到原始频域子载波,并由系统协方差矩阵性能刻画出传输性能。仿真结果显示:正交频分复用技术能够提高连续变量量子密钥分发系统的传输密钥率。     

离散调制连续变量量子密钥分发的安全边界

对一种结合离散调制和反向协调,适用于长距离传输的连续变量量子密钥分发四态协议的安全性进行了严格证明.这种协议中Alice发送的态与高斯调制协议中的有一定差异,这种差异可以等价成信道衰减和额外噪声.另外,由于Alice不可能做到精确调制,这会导致其发送的相干态中含有噪声.把这种调制引起的噪声看作光源的噪声,并推导出了在光源噪声不能被窃听者所利用的条件下的安全码率的下界.为了避免实验上快速、随机的控制本地振荡光的相位,还将无开关协议和四态协议相结合,分析了其安全性.     

连续变量量子密钥分发多维数据协调算法

数据协调是量子密钥分发的重要组成部分,特别是连续变量量子密钥分发远程化的关键环节。在Leverrier等关于多维协调安全性证明的基础上,给出了面向多维协调的低密度奇偶校验码(LDPC)错误校正算法,考查了该算法的最小收敛信噪比阈值,并估算出基于这种多维数据协调方案的量子密钥分发的最大密钥传输距离,经过协调效率的计算以及噪声分析估算出最大安全密钥量。算法仿真结果表明:Alice和Bob之间的传输距离与分层错误校正协议(SEC)相比,从30km增加到47km左右,译码速度是SEC的4倍左右,密钥传输速率可以达到8.61kb/s。     

量子密钥分发与量子安全直接通信

量子通信具有高安全性等优点,是当前的国际研究前沿,量子安全直接通信和量子密钥分发是两种重要的量子信息方式.量子密钥分发通过量子信道产生随机的密钥,而量子安全直接通信直接在量子信道中传输秘密信息.本文力图利用浅显易懂的语言介绍量子安全直接通信和量子密钥分发的基本原理;重点描述几个典型的量子安全直接通信方案,介绍目前的发展状态并展望未来.     

Quantum catalysis-based discrete modulation continuous variable quantum key distribution with eight states

How to lengthen the maximum transmission of continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) has been a notorious hard problem in quantum communications. Here, we propose a simple solution to this problem, i.e., quantum catalyzing CVQKD for discrete modulation with eight states. The quantum catalysis, which can facilitate the conversion of the target ensemble, is used for not only tolerating more excess noise but also lengthening the maximum transmission distance. Security analysis shows that the zero-photon catalysis (ZPC), which is actually seen as a noiseless attenuation can be used as an elegant candidate for the performance improvement of discrete modulation (DM)-CVQKD. The numerical simulations show the ZPC-involved DM-CVQKD protocol outperforms the original DM-CVQKD in terms of maximum transmission distance as well as tolerable noise. Moreover, the ZPC-involved DM-CVQKD protocol can tolerate lower reconciliation efficiency and allow the lower detection efficiency to achieve the same performance.     

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution based on photon addition operation

It is shown that the non-Gaussian operations can not only be used to prepare the nonclassical states, but also to improve the entanglement degree between Gaussian states. Thus these operations are naturally considered to enhance the performance of continuous variable quantum key distribution(CVQKD), in which the non-Gaussian operations are usually placed on the right-side of the entangled source. Here we propose another scheme for further improving the performance of CVQKD with the entangled-based scheme by operating photon-addition operation on the left-side of the entangled source.It is found that the photon-addition operation on the left-side presents both higher success probability and better secure key rate and transmission distance than the photon subtraction on the right-side, although they share the same maximal tolerable noise. In addition, compared to both photon subtraction and photon addition on the right-side, our scheme shows the best performance and the photon addition on the right-side is the worst.     

Performance improvement of eight-state continuous-variable quantum key distribution with an optical amplifier

Discrete modulation is proven to be beneficial to improving the performance of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) in long-distance transmission. In this paper, we suggest a construct to improve the maximal generated secret key rate of discretely modulated eight-state CVQKD using an optical amplifier (OA) with a slight cost of transmission distance. In the proposed scheme, an optical amplifier is exploited to compensate imperfection of Bob's apparatus, so that the generated secret key rate of eight-state protocol is enhanced. Specifically, we investigate two types of optical amplifiers, phase-insensitive amplifier (PIA) and phase-sensitive amplifier (PSA), and thereby obtain approximately equivalent improved performance for eight-state CVQKD system when applying these two different amplifiers. Numeric simulation shows that the proposed scheme can well improve the generated secret key rate of eight-state CVQKD in both asymptotic limit and finite-size regime. We also show that the proposed scheme can achieve the relatively high-rate transmission at long-distance communication system.     

Improving continuous-variable quantum key distribution under local oscillator intensity attack using entanglement in the middle

A modified continuous-variable quantum key distribution(CVQKD) protocol is proposed by originating the entangled source from a malicious third party Eve in the middle instead of generating it from the trustworthy Alice or Bob. This method is able to enhance the efficiency of the CVQKD scheme attacked by local oscillator(LO) intensity attack in terms of the generated secret key rate in quantum communication. The other indication of the improvement is that the maximum transmission distance and the maximum loss tolerance can be increased significantly, especially for CVQKD schemes based on homodyne detection.     

Performance improvement of unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution using heralded hybrid linear amplifier

We propose an improved scheme for unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution (UCVQKD) using heralded hybrid linear amplifier, aiming to simplify the implementation and improve secret key rate. Different from the symmetrical continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol (CVQKD), this scheme modulates one quadrature of the coherent state with security insurance. The heralded hybrid linear amplifier concatenates a deterministic linear amplifier (DLA) and a noiseless linear amplifier (NLA), which can tune between the high-gain or high noise-reduction for performance enhancement. Security analysis shows that the proposed scheme can be secured under the collective attacks. Compared with traditional UCVQKD involving noiseless amplifier, the security transmission distance of proposed protocol is increased by 24 kilometers. It not only simplifies the modulation process but also has approximate performance with symmetrical CVQKD in terms of maximal security transmission distance.     

Plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution with photon subtraction

Plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) protocol can effectively solve the security loopholes associated with transmitting local oscillator (LO). However, this protocol has larger excess noise compared with one-way Gaussian-modulated coherent-states scheme, which limits the maximal transmission distance to a certain degree. In this paper, we show a reliable solution for this problem by employing non-Gaussian operation, especially, photon subtraction operation, which provides a way to improve the performance of plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated CVQKD protocol. The photon subtraction operation shows experimental feasibility in the plug-andplay configuration since it can be implemented under current technology. Security results indicate that the photon subtraction operation can evidently enhance the maximal transmission distance of the plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated CVQKD protocol, which effectively makes up the drawback of the original one. Furthermore, we achieve the tighter bound of the transmission distance by considering the finite-size effect, which is more practical compared with that achieved in the asymptotic limit.     

Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Modulation

We demonstrate a multicarrier QKD protocol for continuous-variables (CV) using the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technique which was employed in frequency domain. The multicarrier communication formulates sub-channels from OFDM technique and physical quantum channel, each dedicated to the transmission of a subcarrier CV. In the OFDM-CVQKD scenario, the input quantum states of the legal parties are granulated into subcarrier CVs, at the receiver, the subcarriers are decoded by an unitary CV operation, which results in the recovered single-carrier CVs. Compared with the device of the multichannel parallel CVQKD protocol that utilizes N arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG) in optical domain, this protocol shows better feasibility of implementation from both equipment and technique. We derive the formulas of the secret key rate, moreover, analyze the security in the finite-size through the OFDM-CVQKD scheme. Simulation results indicate that the OFDM-CVQKD scheme leads to improved secret key rates and higher tolerable excess noise in comparison to single-carrier CVQKD. Particularly, the secret key rate of the 64 subcarrier CVQKD has increased by roughly an order of magnitude of the single-channel CVQKD, whereas the tolerable excess noise can be controlled in a small range. The results reveal that the OFDM-CVQKD protocol provides a feasible framework for the experimental implementation of an unconditionally secure communication over standard telecommunication networks.     

Four-State Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Photon Subtraction

Four-state continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) is one of the discretely modulated CVQKD which generates four nonorthogonal coherent states and exploits the sign of the measured quadrature of each state to encode information rather than uses the quadrature \(\hat {x}\) or \(\hat {p}\) itself. It has been proven that four-state CVQKD is more suitable than Gaussian modulated CVQKD in terms of transmission distance. In this paper, we propose an improved four-state CVQKD using an non-Gaussian operation, photon subtraction. A suitable photon-subtraction operation can be exploited to improve the maximal transmission of CVQKD in point-to-point quantum communication since it provides a method to enhance the performance of entanglement-based (EB) CVQKD. Photon subtraction not only can lengthen the maximal transmission distance by increasing the signal-to-noise rate but also can be easily implemented with existing technologies. Security analysis shows that the proposed scheme can lengthen the maximum transmission distance. Furthermore, by taking finite-size effect into account we obtain a tighter bound of the secure distance, which is more practical than that obtained in the asymptotic limit.     

Two-step quantum secure direct communication scheme with frequency coding

Quantum secure direct communication(QSDC) is an important branch of quantum cryptography. It can transmit secret information directly without establishing a key first, unlike quantum key distribution which requires this precursory event. Here we propose a QSDC scheme by applying the frequency coding technique to the two-step QSDC protocol, which enables the two-step QSDC protocol to work in a noisy environment. We have numerically simulated the performance of the protocol in a noisy channel, and the results show that the scheme is indeed robust against channel noise and loss. We also give an estimate of the channel noise upper bound.