Paper
25 April 2007 Quantum entanglement assisted key distribution
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Quantum correlations or entanglement is a basic ingredient for many applications of quantum information theory.One important application using quantum entanglement exploits the correlation nature of entangled photon states is quantum key distribution, which is proven unbreakable in principle and provides the highest possible security that is impossible in classical information theory. However, generating entangled photon pairs is not a simple task -- only approximately one out of a million pump photons decay into a signal and idler photon pair. This low rate of entangled photon pairs is further reduced by the overhead required in order for the rectification of the inevitable errors due to channel imperfections or caused by potential eavesdroppers. As a consequence, quantum key distribution suffers from a low bit rate, which is in the order of hundreds to thousands bits per second or below. On the other hand, the classical public key distribution does not impose a tight limit on the transmission rate. However, it is subject to the risks of eavesdroppers sitting in the middle of the insecure channel. In this paper, we propose a hybrid key distribution method which uses public key distribution method to generate a raw key, and then uses entanglement assisted communication to modify the raw key by inserting a number of quantum bits in the raw key. Building upon the foundation of the unconditional security of quantum key distribution, we use the privacy amplification to make the affection of inserted bits expand to a whole key. Our quantum entanglement assisted key distribution scheme greatly improves the efficiency of key distribution while without compromising the level of security achievable by quantum cryptography.
© (2007) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Ke Tang, Ping Ji, and Xiaowen Zhang "Quantum entanglement assisted key distribution", Proc. SPIE 6573, Quantum Information and Computation V, 65730S (25 April 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.718544
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Quantum communications

Quantum key distribution

Information security

Quantum information

Quantum physics

Quantum cryptography

Quantum efficiency

RELATED CONTENT


Back to Top