Backflash light characterization to prevent QKD zero-error hacking

A. Meda; I. P. Degiovanni; A. Tosi; Z. L. Yuan; G. Brida; M. Genovese

doi:10.1038/lsa.2016.261

Backflash light characterization to prevent QKD zero-error hacking

Quantum Physics 2016-12-21 v1

Authors: A. Meda , I. P. Degiovanni , A. Tosi , Z. L. Yuan , G. Brida , M. Genovese

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Abstract

Single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are the most commercially diffused solution for single-photon counting in quantum key distribution (QKD) applications. However, the secondary photon emission, arising from the avalanche of charge carriers during a photon detection, may be exploited by an eavesdropper to gain information without forcing errors in the transmission key. In this paper, we characterise such backflash light in gated InGaAs/InP SPADs, and its spectral and temporal characterization for different detector models and different operating parameters. We qualitatively bound the maximum information leakage due to backflash light, and propose a solution.

Keywords

single-photon avalanche diodes quantum optics

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.05562,
  title  = {Backflash light characterization to prevent QKD zero-error hacking},
  author = {A. Meda and I. P. Degiovanni and A. Tosi and Z. L. Yuan and G. Brida and M. Genovese},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.05562},
  year   = {2016}
}

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