English

Composably secure time-frequency quantum key distribution

Quantum Physics 2016-09-30 v1

Abstract

We present a composable security proof, valid against arbitrary attacks and including finite-size effects, for a high dimensional time-frequency quantum key distribution (TFQKD) protocol based upon spectrally entangled photons. Previous works have focused on TFQKD schemes as it combines the impressive loss tolerance of single-photon QKD with the large alphabets of continuous variable (CV) schemes, which enables the potential for more than one bit of secret key per transmission. However, the finite-size security of such schemes has only been proven under the assumption of collective Gaussian attacks. Here, by combining recent advances in entropic uncertainty relations for CVQKD with decoy state analysis, we derive a composable security proof that predicts key rates on the order of Mbits/s over metropolitan distances (40km or less) and maximum transmission distances of up to 140km.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.09436,
  title  = {Composably secure time-frequency quantum key distribution},
  author = {Nathan Walk and Jonathan Barrett and Joshua Nunn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.09436},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

12 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:05:40.715Z