The assumption that detection and/or state-preparation devices used for continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) are beyond influence of potential eavesdroppers leads to a significant performance enhancement in terms of achievable key rate and transmission distance. We provide a detailed and comprehensible derivation of the Holevo bound in this so-called trusted-device scenario. Modelling an entangling-cloner attack and using some basic algebraic matrix transformations, we show that the computation of the Holevo bound can be reduced to the solution of a quadratic equation. As an advantage of our derivation, the mathematical complexity of our solution does not increase with the number of trusted-noise sources. Finally, we provide a numerical evaluation of our results, illustrating the counter-intuitive fact that an appropriate amount of trusted receiver loss and noise can even be beneficial for the key rate.
@article{arxiv.1904.01970,
title = {Analysis of the trusted-device scenario in continuous-variable quantum key distribution},
author = {Fabian Laudenbach and Christoph Pacher},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.01970},
year = {2019}
}