Secure communication using mesoscopic coherent states

Nature Physics, 2008

Quantum cryptography has been recently extended to continuous variable systems, e.g., the bosonic modes of the electromagnetic field. In particular, several cryptographic protocols have been proposed and experimentally implemented using bosonic modes with Gaussian statistics. Such protocols have shown the possibility of reaching very high secret key rates, even in the presence of strong losses in the quantum communication channel. Despite this robustness to loss, their security can be affected by more general attacks where extra Gaussian noise is introduced by the eavesdropper. In this general scenario we show a "hardware solution" for enhancing the security thresholds of these protocols. This is possible by extending them to a two-way quantum communication where subsequent uses of the quantum channel are suitably combined. In the resulting two-way schemes, one of the honest parties assists the secret encoding of the other with the chance of a non-trivial superadditive enhancement of the security thresholds. Such results enable the extension of quantum cryptography to more complex quantum communications.

Photonic Quantum …, 1997

The secure distribution of the secret random bit sequences known as "key" material, is an essential precursor to their use for the encryption and decryption of confidential communications. Quantum cryptography is an emerging technology for secure key distribution with single-photon transmissions: Heisenberg's uncertainty principle ensures that an adversary can neither successfully tap the key transmissions, nor evade detection (eavesdropping raises the key error rate above a threshold value). We have developed experimental quantum cryptography systems based on the transmission of non-orthogonal single-photon states to generate shared key material over multi-kilometer optical fiber paths and over line-of-sight links. In both cases, key material is built up using the transmission of a single-photon per bit of an initial secret random sequence. A quantum-mechanically random subset of this sequence is identified, becoming the key material after a data reconciliation stage with the sender. In our optical fiber experiment we have performed quantum key distribution over 24-km of underground optical fiber using single-photon interference states, demonstrating that secure, real-time key generation over "open" multi-km node-to-node optical fiber communications links is possible. We have also constructed a quantum key distribution system for free-space, line-of-sight transmissions using single-photon polarization states, which is currently undergoing laboratory testing.

Quantum Information Processing, 2013

This paper presents a modified secure direct communication protocol by using the blind polarization bases and particles' random transmitting order. In our protocol, a sender (Alice) encodes secret messages by rotating a random polarization angle of particle and then the receiver (Bob) sends back these particles as a random sequence. This ensures the security of communication.

Free-Space Laser Communication and Laser Imaging II, 2002

In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the secret key quantum cryptographic scheme. A tabletop communication link was set up in the free-space channel using ordinary lasers as transmitters, which emit coherent states of light, and quantumlimited direct detection was employed in the receivers. In the secret key scheme, one needs a supply of M possible quantum states that are uniformly distributed over some random variable. In the free-space case, we used polarization angle as the variable determining the state. In the proof-of-concept demonstration, we aimed towards sending data messages encrypted with a short secret key from the transmitter to the receiver. The messages could be successfully deciphered by the receiver by its knowledge of the secret key. However, when the secret key was taken away, in order to mimic an eavesdropper, the messages could not be deciphered.

Physical Review Letters, 2004

In this letter, first, we investigate the security of a continuous-variable quantum cryptographic scheme with a postselection process against individual beam splitting attack. It is shown that the scheme can be secure in the presence of the transmission loss owing to the postselection. Second, we provide a loss limit for continuous-variable quantum cryptography using coherent states taking into account excess Gaussian noise on quadrature distribution. Since the excess noise is reduced by the loss mechanism, a realistic intercept-resend attack which makes a Gaussian mixture of coherent states gives a loss limit in the presence of any excess Gaussian noise.

2007

Quantum cryptography or quantum key distribution (QKD) applies fundamental laws of quantum physics to guarantee secure communication. The security of quantum cryptography was proven in the last decade. Many security analyses are based on the assumption that QKD system components are idealized. In practice, inevitable device imperfections may compromise security unless these imperfections are well investigated. A highly attenuated laser pulse which gives a weak coherent state is widely used in QKD experiments. A weak coherent state has multi-photon components, which opens up a security loophole to the sophisticated eavesdropper. With a small adjustment of the hardware, we will prove that the decoy state method can close this loophole and substantially improve the QKD performance. We also propose a few practical decoy state protocols, study statistical fluctuations and perform experimental demonstrations. Moreover, we will apply the methods from entanglement distillation protocols based on two-way classical communication to improve the decoy state QKD performance. Furthermore, we study the decoy state methods for other single photon sources, such as triggering parametric down-conversion (PDC) source. Note that our work, decoy state protocol, has attracted a lot of scientific and media interest. The decoy state QKD becomes a standard technique for prepare-and-measure QKD schemes. Aside from single-photon-based QKD schemes, there is another type of scheme based on entangled photon sources. A PDC source is commonly used as an entangled photon source. We propose a model and post-processing scheme for the entanglement-based QKD with a PDC source. Although the model is proposed to study the entanglementbased QKD, we emphasize that our generic model may also be useful for other non-QKD experiments involving a PDC source. By simulating a real PDC experiment, we show that the entanglement-based QKD can achieve longer maximal secure distance than the single-photon-based QKD schemes.

Journal of Physics B-atomic Molecular and Optical Physics, 2011

In this paper, we present a new idea of two-way quantum communication called 'secure quantum information exchange' (SQIE). If there are two arbitrary unknown quantum states |ξrangIA and |ηrangIB, initially with Alice and Bob, respectively, then SQIE protocol leads to the simultaneous exchange of these states between Alice and Bob with the aid of the special kind of six-qubit entangled (SSE) state and classical assistance of the third party, Charlie. The term 'secure' signifies the fact that SQIE protocol either faithfully exchanges the unknown quantum states proceeding in a prescribed way or, in case of any irregularity, the process generates no results. For experimental realization of the SQIE protocol, we have suggested an efficient scheme for generating SSE states using the interaction between highly detuned Λ-type three-level atoms and the optical coherent field. By theoretical calculations, we found that SSE states of almost unit fidelity with perfect success rates for appreciable mean photon numbers (Fav >= 0.999 for |α|2 >= 1.5) can be generated by our scheme. Further, we have discussed possible experimental imperfections, such as atomic-radiative time, cavity damping time, atom-cavity interaction time, and the efficiency of discrimination between the coherent field and the vacuum state shows that our SQIE protocol is within the reach of technology presently available.

Optica, 2017

Quantum key distribution (QKD) permits information-theoretically secure transmission of digital encryption keys, assuming that the behaviour of the devices employed for the key exchange can be reliably modelled and predicted. Remarkably, no assumptions have to be made on the capabilities of an eavesdropper other than that she is bounded by the laws of Nature, thus making the security of QKD "unconditional". However, unconditional security is hard to achieve in practice. For example, any experimental realisation can only collect finite data samples, leading to vulnerabilities against coherent attacks, the most general class of attacks, and for some protocols the theoretical proof of robustness against these attacks is still missing. For these reasons, in the past many QKD experiments have fallen short of implementing an unconditionally secure protocol and have instead considered limited attacking capabilities by the eavesdropper. Here, we explore the security of QKD against coherent attacks in the most challenging environment: the long-distance transmission of keys. We demonstrate that the BB84 protocol can provide positive key rates for distances up to 240 km without multiplexing of conventional signals, and up to 200 km with multiplexing. Useful key rates can be achieved even for the longest distances, using practical thermo-electrically cooled single-photon detectors.

Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2006

We present a three-party quantum secure direct communication protocol by using Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and entanglement swapping. The proposed scheme realizes authorized parties' secure exchange of their respective secret messages simultaneously and directly in a set of devices. We show that the scheme is secure against eavesdropper's commonly used attacks. We also generalize the protocol to the N-party case by using N-partite GHZ states. Quantum secure communication along a physical channel is doubtless one of the most attractive perspectives related to the latest developments of quantum physics. Based on physical laws instead of mathematical complexities, correspondence with perfect security could be guaranteed over an insecure channel in Vernam's sense of one-time pad, which is known as quantum cryptography. The pioneering work of Bennett and Brassard [1] showed how to exploit quantum resources for cryptographic purposes. Conventionally, the problem is referred to as quantum key distribution (QKD). Since then, a variety of quantum secure communication protocols have been proposed (for a review see [2]). Although the methods used in these schemes are various, all of them allow for a secret generation of random keys through which legitimate users can accomplish a thoroughly private communication. Recently, a new concept in quantum cryptography, quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) has been proposed [3-13], which permits confidential messages to be communicated directly without first establishing random keys to encrypt them. In [4], Boström and Felbinger proposed a ping-pong protocol for private communication, in which the encoded bit can be decoded directly in each respective transmission run, thus it can realize QSDC

Cornell University - arXiv, 2012

Two protocols for deterministic secure quantum communication (DSQC) using GHZ-like states have been proposed. It is shown that one of these protocols can be modified to an equivalent but more efficient protocol of quantum secure direct communication (QSDC). Security and efficiency of the proposed protocols are analyzed in detail and are critically compared with the existing protocols. It is shown that the proposed protocols are highly efficient. It is also shown that all the physical systems where dense coding is possible can be used to design maximally efficient protocol of DSQC and QSDC. Further, it is shown that dense coding is sufficient but not essential for DSQC and QSDC protocols of the present kind. We have shown that there exist a large class of quantum state which can be used to design maximally efficient DSQC and QSDC protocols of the present kind. It is further, observed that maximally efficient QSDC protocols are more efficient than their DSQC counterparts. This additional efficiency arises at the cost of message transmission rate.