As an alternative to the usual key generation by two-way communication in schemes for quantum cryptography, we consider codes for key generation by one-way communication. We study codes that could be applied to the raw key sequences that are ideally obtained in recently proposed scenarios for quantum key distribution, which can be regarded as communication through symmetric four-letter channels.
A conjugate code pair is defined as a pair of linear codes such that one contains the dual of the other. The conjugate code pair represents the essential structure of the corresponding Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) quantum code. It is argued that conjugate code pairs are applicable to quantum cryptography in order to motivate studies on conjugate code pairs.
Based on quantum encryption, we present a new idea for quantum public-key cryptography (QPKC) and construct a whole theoretical framework of a QPKC system. We show that the quantum-mechanical nature renders it feasible and reasonable to use symmetric keys in such a scheme, which is quite different from that in conventional public-key cryptography. The security of our scheme is analyzed and some features are discussed. Furthermore, the state-estimation attack to a prior QPKC scheme is demonstrated.
A new cryptographic tool, anonymous quantum key technique, is introduced that leads to unconditionally secure key distribution and encryption schemes that can be readily implemented experimentally in a realistic environment. If quantum memory is available, the technique would have many features of public-key cryptography; an identification protocol that does not require a shared secret key is provided as an illustration. The possibility is also indicated for obtaining unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment protocols with this technique.
Based on the detection loophole-free photon key distribution (PKD) compatible with classical optical systems, an optical key distribution (OKD) protocol is presented for unconditionally secured cryptography in fiber-optic communications networks using addressable continuous phase basis, where each communication channel is composed of paired transmission lines. The unconditional security in OKD lies in quantum superposition between the paired lines of each channel. The continuous phase basis in OKD can be applied for one-time-pad optical cryptography in networks, whose network address capacity …
We study cryptography based on operator theory, and propose quantum no-key (QNK) protocols from the perspective of operator theory, then present a framework of QNK protocols. The framework is expressed in two forms: trace-preserving quantum operators and natural presentations. Then we defined the information-theoretical security of QNK protocols and the security of identification keys. Two kinds of QNK protocols are also proposed. The first scheme is constructed based on unitary transformation, and the other is constructed based on two multiplicative commutative sets.
Quantum Cryptography is on the verge of commercial application. One of its greatest limitations is over long distance - secret key rates are low and the longest fibre over which any key has been exchanged is currently 100 km. We investigate the quantum relay, which can increase the maximum distance at which quantum cryptography is possible. The relay splits the channel into sections, and sends a different photon across each section, increasing the signal to noise ratio. The photons are linked as in teleportation, with entangled photon pairs and Bell measurements. We show that such a scheme cou…
We give new arguments in support of \emph{signed quantum key establishment}, where quantum cryptography is used in a public-key infrastructure that provides the required authentication. We also analyze more thoroughly than previous works the benefits that quantum key establishment protocols have over certain classical protocols, motivated in part by the various objections to quantum key establishment that are sometimes raised. Previous knowledge of quantum cryptography on the reader's part is not required for this article, as the definition of "quantum key establishment" that we use is an enti…
A large number of quantum location verification protocols have been proposed. All existing protocols in this field are based on symmetric cryptography where verifiers and the prover use the same secret key. The prover obtains secret key from different verifiers, in pieces through public channels, which may result in security compromise. In this paper, we give a formulism to prove information-theoretic position-based quantum cryptography is possible in asymmetric quantum setting. We propose a quantum location verification protocol based on asymmetric quantum cryptographic where two different ke…
When the 4-state or the 6-state protocol of quantum cryptography is carried out on a noisy (i.e. realistic) quantum channel, then the raw key has to be processed to reduce the information of an adversary Eve down to an arbitrarily low value, providing Alice and Bob with a secret key. In principle, quantum algorithms as well as classical algorithms can be used for this processing. A natural question is: up to which error rate on the raw key is a secret-key agreement at all possible? Under the assumption of incoherent eavesdropping, we find that the quantum and classical limits are precisely the…
For single-photon quantum key generation between two users, it is shown that the use of a shared secret key extended via a pseudo-random number generator may simultaneously enhance the security and efficiency of the cryptosystem. This effect arises from the intrinsic performance difference between quantum detectors with versus without knowledge of the key, a purely quantum effect and a new principle for key generation. No intrusion level estimation is needed and the method is directly applicable to realistic systems with imperfections. Quantum direct encryption is also made possible by such us…
We suggest that the randomness of the choices of measurement basis by Alice and Bob provides an additional important resource for quantum cryptography. As a specific application, we present a novel protocol for quantum key distribution (QKD) which enhances the BB84 scheme by encrypting the information sent over the classical channel during key sifting. We show that, in the limit of long keys, this process prevents an eavesdropper from reproducing the sifting process carried out by the legitimate users. The inability of the eavesdropper to sift the information gathered by tapping the quantum ch…
It is well known that Shor's quantum algorithm for integer factorization can break down the RSA public-key cryptosystem, which is widely used in many cryptographic applications. Thus, public-key cryptosystems in the quantum computational setting are longed for cryptology. In order to define the security notions of public-key cryptosystems, we have to model the power of the sender, receiver, adversary and channel. While we may consider a setting where quantum computers are available only to adversaries, we generally discuss what are the right security notions for (quantum) public-key cryptosyst…
Correlations of the type discussed by EPR in their original 1935 paradox for continuous variables exist for the quadrature phase amplitudes of two spatially separated fields. These correlations were experimentally reported in 1992. We propose to use such EPR beams in quantum cryptography, to transmit with high efficiency messages in such a way that the receiver and sender may later determine whether eavesdropping has occurred. The merit of the new proposal is in the possibility of transmitting a reasonably secure yet predetermined key. This would allow relay of a cryptographic key over long di…
We discuss cryptographic applications of single-qubit rotations from the perspective of trapdoor one-way functions and public-key encryption. In particular, we present an asymmetric cryptosystem whose security relies on fundamental principles of quantum physics. A quantum public key is used for the encryption of messages while decryption is possible by means of a classical private key only. The trapdoor one-way function underlying the proposed cryptosystem maps integer numbers to quantum states of a qubit and its inversion can be infeasible by virtue of the Holevo's theorem.
It has been shown recently that the framework of quantum sampling, as introduced by Bouman and Fehr, can lead to new entropic uncertainty relations highly applicable to finite-key cryptographic analyses. Here we revisit these so-called sampling-based entropic uncertainty relations, deriving newer, more powerful, relations and applying them to source-independent quantum random number generators and high-dimensional quantum key distribution protocols. Along the way, we prove several interesting results in the asymptotic case for our entropic uncertainty relations. These sampling-based approaches…
In this work, it is presented an optical scheme for quantum key distribution employing two synchronized optoelectronic oscillators (OEO) working in the chaotic regime. The produced key depends on the chaotic dynamic and the synchronization between Alice's and Bob's OEOs uses quantum states. An attack on the synchronization signals will disturb the synchronization of the chaotic systems increasing the error rate in the final key.
Quantum key distribution protocols based on equiangular spherical codes are introduced and their behavior under the intercept/resend attack investigated. Such protocols offer a greater range of secure noise tolerance and speed options than protocols based on their cousins, the mutually-unbiased bases, while also enabling the determination of the channel noise rate without the need to sacrifice key bits. For fixed number of signal states in a given dimension, the spherical code protocols offer Alice and Bob more noise tolerance at the price of slower key generation rates.
Despite enormous progress both in theoretical and experimental quantum cryptography, the security of most current implementations of quantum key distribution is still not established rigorously. One of the main problems is that the security of the final key is highly dependent on the number, M, of signals exchanged between the legitimate parties. While, in any practical implementation, M is limited by the available resources, existing security proofs are often only valid asymptotically for unrealistically large values of M. Here, we demonstrate that this gap between theory and practice can be …
The security of a cryptographic key that is generated by communication through a noisy quantum channel relies on the ability to distill a shorter secure key sequence from a longer insecure one. For an important class of protocols, which exploit tomographically complete measurements on entangled pairs of any dimension, we show that the noise threshold for classical advantage distillation is identical with the threshold for quantum entanglement distillation. As a consequence, the two distillation procedures are equivalent: neither offers a security advantage over the other.
A new approach to quantum cryptography to be called KCQ, keyed communication in quantum noise, is developed on the basis of quantum detection and communication theory for classical information transmission. By the use of a shared secret key that determines the quantum states generated for different data bit sequences, the users may employ the corresponding optimum quantum measurement to decode the data. This gives them a better error performance than an attacker who does not know the key when she makes her quantum measurement, and an overall generation of a fresh key may be obtained from the r…
Quantum cryptography uses techniques and ideas from physics and computer science. The combination of these ideas makes the security proofs of quantum cryptography a complicated task. To prove that a quantum-cryptography protocol is secure, assumptions are made about the protocol and its devices. If these assumptions are not justified in an implementation then an eavesdropper may break the security of the protocol. Therefore, security is crucially dependent on which assumptions are made and how justified the assumptions are in an implementation of the protocol. This thesis is primarily a review…
Uniquely among the sciences, quantum cryptography has driven both foundational research as well as practical real-life applications. We review the progress of quantum cryptography in the last decade, covering quantum key distribution and other applications.
Quantum cryptography is going to find practically useful applications. Recently some first quantum cryptographic solutions became available on the market. For clients it is important to be able to compare the quality and properties of the proposed products. To this end one needs to elaborate on specifications and standards of solutions in quantum cryptography. We propose and discuss a list of characteristics for the specification, which includes numerical evaluations of the security of solution and can be considered as a standard for quantum key distribution solutions. The list is based on the…
We perform a comparison of two protocols for generating a cryptographic key composed from d-valued symbols: one exploiting a string of independent qubits and another one utilizing d-level systems prepared in states belonging to d+1 mutually unbiased bases. We show that the protocol based on qubits is optimal for quantum cryptography, since it provides higher security and higher key generation rate.
By realizing a quantum cryptography system based on polarization entangled photon pairs we establish highly secure keys, because a single photon source is approximated and the inherent randomness of quantum measurements is exploited. We implement a novel key distribution scheme using Wigner's inequality to test the security of the quantum channel, and, alternatively, realize a variant of the BB84 protocol. Our system has two completely independent users separated by 360 m, and generates raw keys at rates of 400 - 800 bits/second with bit error rates arround 3 percent.
Quantum cryptographic protocols solve the longstanding problem of distributing a shared secret string to two distant users by typically making use of one-way quantum channel. However, alternative protocols exploiting two-way quantum channel have been proposed for the same goal and with potential advantages. Here we overview a security proof for two-way quantum key distribution protocols, against the most general eavesdropping attack, that utilize an entropic uncertainty relation. Then, by resorting to the `smooth' version of involved entropies, we extend such a proof to the case of finite key …
In the next years the data transmission connections will constitute one of the principal tools of communication among cities, enterprises and public administration. With their enhanced connectivity, the systems and nets of information are now exposed to an increased vulnerability and new safety problems are emerging. Insofar Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) has matured to real world applications and can enhance the safety of the communication nets. In this paper we present the QKD network designed and implemented by Selex-SI and we give an overview of the obtained results.
We propose an alternative quantum cryptography protocol using the quantum interference effect. The efficiency of creating sifted key can reach 100\% in principle, which is higher than previous protocols. Especially, compared with the typical quantum key distribution, the present scheme does not require the authorized parties to check their bases. Because the potential eavesdropper can only access part of the quantum system, the proposed scheme has natural practical security advantages. The scheme can be implemented with current technologies and opens promising possibilities for quantum cryptog…
A particularly successful detector blinding attack has been recently demonstrated on various quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, performing for the first time an undetectable and complete recovery of the key. In this paper two original contributions are given to understanding and prevention of this attack.
We present a quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on polarisation entanglement for use in telecom fibers. A QKD exchange up to 50km was demonstrated in the laboratory with a secure key rate of 550 bit/s. The system is compact, portable with a fully automated start-up and stabilisation modules for polarisation, synchronisation and photon coupling allow a hands-off operation. Stable and reliable key exchange in a deployed optical fiber of 16km length was demonstrated. In this fiber network we achieved over two weeks an automatic key generation with an average key rate of 2000 bit/s withou…
We demonstrate that the framework of bounded quantum reference frames has application to building quantum-public-key cryptographic protocols and proving their security. Thus, the framework we introduce can be seen as a public-key analogue of the framework of Bartlett et al. (Phys. Rev. A 70, 032307), where a private shared reference frame is shown to have cryptographic application. The protocol we present in this paper is an identification scheme, which, like a digital signature scheme, is a type of authentication scheme. We prove that our protocol is both reusable and secure under the honest-…
We analyze the asymptotic security of the family of Gaussian modulated Quantum Key Distribution protocols for Continuous Variables systems. We prove that the Gaussian unitary attack is optimal for all the considered bounds on the key rate when the first and second momenta of the canonical variables involved are known by the honest parties.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides information theoretically secures key exchange requiring authentication of the classic data processing channel via pre-sharing of symmetric private keys. In previous studies, the lattice-based post-quantum digital signature algorithm Aigis-Sig, combined with public-key infrastructure (PKI) was used to achieve high-efficiency quantum security authentication of QKD, and its advantages in simplifying the MAN network structure and new user entry were demonstrated. This experiment further integrates the PQC algorithm into the commercial QKD system, the Jinan …
We propose a quantum key distribution protocol based on a quantum retrodiction protocol, known as the Mean King problem. The protocol uses a two way quantum channel. We show security against coherent attacks in a transmission error free scenario, even if Eve is allowed to attack both transmissions. This establishes a connection between retrodiction and key distribution.
The security of a cryptographic key that is generated by communication through a noisy quantum channel relies on the ability to distill a shorter secure key sequence from a longer insecure one. We show that -- for protocols that use quantum channels of any dimension and completely characterize them by state tomography -- the noise threshold for classical advantage distillation is substantially lower than the threshold for quantum entanglement distillation because the eavesdropper can perform powerful coherent attacks. The earlier claims that the two noise thresholds are identical, which were b…
It has been suggested that the ability of quantum mechanics to allow secure distribution of secret key together with its inability to allow bit commitment or communicate superluminally might be sufficient to imply the rest of quantum mechanics. I argue using a toy theory as a counterexample that this is not the case. I further discuss whether an additional axiom (key storage) brings back the quantum nature of the theory.
Quantum cryptography allows one to distribute a secret key between two remote parties using the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. The well-known established paradigm for the quantum key distribution relies on the actual transmission of signal particle through a quantum channel. This paper shows that the task of a secret key distribution can be accomplished even though a particle carrying secret information is not in fact transmitted through the quantum channel. The proposed protocols can be implemented with current technologies and provide practical security advantages by eliminatin…
We consider the class of reference frame independent protocols in d dimensions for quantum key distribution, in which Alice and Bob have one natural basis that is aligned and the rest of their frames are unaligned. We relate existing approaches to tomographically complete protocols. We comment on two different approaches to finite key bounds in this setting, one direct and one using the entropic uncertainty relation and suggest that the existing finite key bounds can still be improved.
We discuss a quantum key distribution scheme in which small phase and amplitude modulations of CW light beams carry the key information. The presence of EPR type correlations provides the quantum protection. We identify universal constraints on the level of shared information between the intended receiver (Bob) and any eavesdropper (Eve) and use this to make a general evaluation of security. We identify teleportation as an optimum eavesdropping technique.
In the last few years the world in which Quantum Cryptography evolves has deeply changed. On the one side the revelations of Snowden, though he said nothing really new, made the world more aware of the importance to protect sensitive data from all kinds of adversaries, including sometimes "friends." On the other side, breakthroughs in quantum computation, in particular in superconducting qubits and surface-codes, made it possible that in 15 to 25 years there might be a quantum machine able to break today's codes. This implies that in order to protect today's data over a few decades, one has to…
We show that non-maximally entangled states can be used to build a quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme whose security and key rate transmission is nearly equivalent to those of standard QKD protocols. These aspects can be controlled by using the new free parameter in the present scheme, namely, the degree of partial entanglement. Furthermore, we discuss how to build a controlled QKD scheme, also based on partially entangled states, where a third party can decide whether or not Alice and Bob are allowed to share a key.
We consider a variant of the BB84 protocol for quantum cryptography, the prototype of tomographically incomplete protocols, where the key is generated by one-way communication rather than the usual two-way communication. Our analysis, backed by numerical evidence, establishes thresholds for eavesdropping attacks on the raw data and on the generated key at quantum bit error rates of 10% and 6.15%, respectively. Both thresholds are lower than the threshold for unconditional security in the standard BB84 protocol.
Quantum cryptography is an emerging technology in which two parties may simultaneously generate shared, secret cryptographic key material using the transmission of quantum states of light. The security of these transmissions is based on the inviolability of the laws of quantum mechanics and information-theoretically secure post-processing methods. An adversary can neither successfully tap the quantum transmissions, nor evade detection, owing to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. In this paper we describe the theory of quantum cryptography, and the most recent results from our experimental fre…
A semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol allows two users, one of whom is restricted in their quantum capabilities, to establish a shared secret key, secure against an all-powerful adversary. In this paper, we design a new SQKD protocol using high-dimensional quantum states and conduct an information theoretic security analysis. We show that, similar to the fully-quantum key distribution case, high-dimensional systems can increase the noise tolerance in the semi-quantum case. Along the way, we prove several general security results which are applicable to other SQKD protocols (both high…
Like all of quantum information theory, quantum cryptography is traditionally based on two level quantum systems. In this letter, a new protocol for quantum key distribution based on higher dimensional systems is presented. An experimental realization using an interferometric setup is also proposed. Analyzing this protocol from the practical side, one finds an increased key creation rate while keeping the initial laser pulse rate constant. Analyzing it for the case of intercept/resend eavesdropping strategy, an increased error rate is found compared to two dimensional systems, hence an advanta…
We propose a new coherent state quantum key distribution protocol that eliminates the need to randomly switch between measurement bases. This protocol provides significantly higher secret key rates with increased bandwidths than previous schemes that only make single quadrature measurements. It also offers the further advantage of simplicity compared to all previous protocols which, to date, have relied on switching.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide information theoretically secure key exchange even in the era of quantum computer. However, QKD requires the classical channel to be authenticated, and the current method is pre-sharing symmetric keys. For a QKD network of $n$ users, this method requires $C_n^2 = n(n-1)/2$ pairs of symmetric keys to realize pairwise interconnection. In contrast, with the help of mature public key infrastructure (PKI) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) with quantum resistant security, each user only needs to apply for a digital certificate from certificate authority (…
The use of quantum bits (qubits) in cryptography holds the promise of secure cryptographic quantum key distribution schemes. Unfortunately, the implemented schemes can be totally insecure. We provide a thorough investigation of security issues for practical quantum key distribution, taking into account channel losses, a realistic detection process, and modifications of the ``qubits'' sent from the sender to the receiver. We first show that even quantum key distribution with perfect qubits cannot be achieved over long distances when fixed channel losses and fixed dark count errors are taken int…
We describe a cryptographic protocol in which Wheeler's delayed choice experiment is used to generate the key distribution. The protocol, which uses photons polarized only along one axis, is secure against general attacks.
In this article I present a protocol for quantum cryptography which is secure against attacks on individual signals. It is based on the Bennett-Brassard protocol of 1984 (BB84). The security proof is complete as far as the use of single photons as signal states is concerned. Emphasis is given to the practicability of the resulting protocol. For each run of the quantum key distribution the security statement gives the probability of a successful key generation and the probability for an eavesdropper's knowledge, measured as change in Shannon entropy, to be below a specified maximal value.
We produce two identical keys using, for the first time, entangled trinary quantum systems (qutrits) for quantum key distribution. The advantage of qutrits over the normally used binary quantum systems is an increased coding density and a higher security margin. The qutrits are encoded into the orbital angular momentum of photons, namely Laguerre-Gaussian modes with azimuthal index l +1, 0 and -1, respectively. The orbital angular momentum is controlled with phase holograms. In an Ekert-type protocol the violation of a three-dimensional Bell inequality verifies the security of the generated ke…
We present strong attacks against quantum key distribution schemes which use quantum memories and quantum gates to attack directly the final key. We analyze a specific attack of this type, for which we find the density matrices available to the eavesdropper and the optimal information which can be extracted from them. We prove security against this attack and discuss security against any attack allowed by the rules of quantum mechanics.
Quantum Key Exchange (QKE, also known as Quantum Key Distribution or QKD) allows communicating parties to securely establish cryptographic keys. It is a well-established fact that all QKE protocols require that the parties have access to an authentic channel. Without this authenticated link, QKE is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Overlooking this fact results in exaggerated claims and/or false expectations about the potential impact of QKE. In this paper we present a systematic comparison of QKE with traditional key establishment protocols in realistic secure communication systems.