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Related papers: Quantum key distribution with untrusted detectors

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers an unconditionally secure means of communication based on the laws of quantum mechanics. Currently, a major challenge is to achieve a QKD system with a 40 dB channel loss, which is required if we are to…

Security proofs of quantum key distribution (QKD) typically assume that the devices of the legitimate users are perfectly shielded from the eavesdropper. This assumption is, however, very hard to meet in practice, and thus the security of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-09-05 Weilong Wang , Kiyoshi Tamaki , Marcos Curty

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) can remove all detection side-channels from quantum communication systems. The security proofs require, however, that certain assumptions on the sources are satisfied. This…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-01-20 Weilong Wang , Kiyoshi Tamaki , Marcos Curty

Quantum Cryptography or Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a technique that allows the secure distribution of a bit string, used as key in cryptographic protocols. When it was noted that quantum computers could break public key cryptosystems…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2010-07-15 Mohamed Elboukhari , Mostafa Azizi , Abdelmalek Azizi

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a cornerstone of the secure quantum encryption. Building on the quantum irreversibility, we develop a technique reborning the existing QKDs into protocols that are unrestricted in distance and have…

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is based on the laws of quantum mechanics to enable provably secure communication. Despite its theoretical security promise, practical QKD systems are vulnerable to serious attacks, including side-channel…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-05-21 Syed M. Arslan , Saif Al-Kuwari , M. T. Rahim , Hashir Kuniyal

The malicious manipulation of quantum key distribution (QKD) hardware is a serious threat to its security, as, typically, neither end users nor QKD manufacturers can validate the integrity of every component of their QKD system in practice.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-04-01 Víctor Zapatero , Marcos Curty

Due to its ability to tolerate high channel loss, decoy-state quantum key distribution (QKD) has been one of the main focuses within the QKD community. Notably, several experimental groups have demonstrated that it is secure and feasible…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-02-12 Charles Ci Wen Lim , Marcos Curty , Nino Walenta , Feihu Xu , Hugo Zbinden

Based on the fundamental rules of quantum mechanics, two communicating parties can generate and share a secret random key that can be used to encrypt and decrypt messages sent over an insecure channel. This process is known as quantum key…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2020-03-25 Ivan Vybornyi , Abderrahmen Trichili , Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides means for unconditional secure key transmission between two distant parties. However, in practical implementations, it suffers from quantum hacking due to device imperfections. Here we propose a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-07-16 Shi-Hai Sun , Mu-Sheng Jiang , Xiang-Chun Ma , Chun-Yan Li , Lin-Mei Liang

Quantum key distribution (QKD) promises information-theoretic security based on quantum mechanics and idealized device models. Practical implementations, however, deviate from these models due to unavoidable device imperfections, and…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-14 Álvaro Navarrete , Guillermo Currás-Lorenzo , Margarida Pereira , Marcos Curty

Practical implementations of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) often deviate from the theoretical protocols, exposing the implementations to various attacks even when the underlying (ideal) protocol is proven secure. We present new analysis…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-02-20 Ittay Alfassi , Ran Gelles , Rotem Liss , Tal Mor

Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two remote users to establish a secret key in the presence of an eavesdropper. The users share quantum states prepared in two mutually-unbiased bases: one to generate the key while the other monitors…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-05-03 Nurul T. Islam , Charles Ci Wen Lim , Clinton Cahall , Jungsang Kim , Daniel J. Gauthier

We propose a continuous-variable measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (CV-MDI QKD) protocol, in which detection is conducted by an untrusted third party. Our protocol can defend all detector side channels, which seriously…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-05-13 Zhengyu Li , Yi-Chen Zhang , Feihu Xu , Xiang Peng , Hong Guo

In theory, quantum key distribution (QKD) offers information-theoretic security. In practice, however, it does not due to the discrepancies between the assumptions used in the security proofs and the behaviour of the real apparatuses.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-03-29 Margarida Pereira , Go Kato , Akihiro Mizutani , Marcos Curty , Kiyoshi Tamaki

Modern communication strives towards provably secure systems which can be widely deployed. Quantum key distribution provides a methodology to verify the integrity and security of a key exchange based on physical laws. However, physical…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-04-01 Henry Semenenko , Philip Sibson , Andy Hart , Mark G. Thompson , John G. Rarity , Chris Erven

Unambiguous state discrimination (USD) is one of the major obstacles for practical quantum key distribution (QKD). Often overlooked, it allows efficient eavesdropping in majority of practical systems, provided the overall channel loss is…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-01-10 K. S. Kravtsov , I. V. Radchenko , S. P. Kulik , S. N. Molotkov

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol was proposed to remove all the detector side channel attacks, while its security relies on the trusted encoding systems. Here we propose a one-sided MDI-QKD…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-01-18 Wen-Fei Cao , Yi-Zheng Zhen , Yu-Lin Zheng , Li Li , Zeng-Bing Chen , Nai-Le Liu , Kai Chen

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DI-QKD) is often seen as the ultimate key exchange protocol in terms of security, as it can be performed securely with uncharacterised black-box devices. The advent of DI-QKD closes several…

We consider the security of a system of quantum key distribution (QKD) using only practical devices. Currently, attenuated laser pulses are widely used and considered to be the most practical light source. For the receiver of photons,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Masato Koashi