Efficient information reconciliation in quantum key distribution systems using informed design of non-binary LDPC codes

In quantum key distribution (QKD), two users extract a shared secret key using a quantum communication channel in the presence of an eavesdropper. Among QKD protocols, the ones based on energy-time (ET) entanglement of photons have been studied extensively due to their ability to generate high key rates from the arrival times of entangled photons. For the information reconciliation (IR) stage of ET-QKD protocols (where the users communicate using a classical channel in order to reconcile differences in their data), a scheme called multi-level coding (MLC) was proposed by Zhou et al. in prior work. The MLC scheme splits the raw key symbols into bit layers and utilizes binary low-density parity check (LDPC) codes to encode each layer. Although binary LDPC codes are able to offer low complexity decoding for IR, they have poor error-correcting performance compared to their non-binary counterparts, thus leading to low key rates. Additionally, existing LDPC codes do not fully utilize the properties of the QKD channel to optimize the key rates. In this paper, we mitigate the above issues by proposing a flexible protocol for IR in ET-QKD systems called non-binary multi-level coding NB-MLC(a) which is parameterized by a positive integer a. The NB-MLC(a) protocol is a generalization of the MLC scheme and utilizes NB-LDPC codes from a Galois field of size \(2^a\) $2^a$ . We show that by using a small value of a, the NB-MLC(a) protocol significantly improves the key rate without much increase in complexity. To further improve the key rates of the NB-MLC(a) protocol, we propose (i) a joint rate and degree distribution optimization (JRDO) algorithm to design the NB-LDPC codes for the protocol and (ii) an interleaved decoding and communication (IDC) scheme to decode the different layers of the NB-MLC(a) protocol. The JRDO algorithm is designed to use the QKD channel information, and we show that it results in a higher key rate than codes used in prior work. Additionally, the IDC scheme improves the key rate compared to the decoding and communication methods utilized previously in literature. Overall, the NB-MLC(a) protocol that uses JRDO-LDPC codes and the IDC scheme results in a significant 40–60 \(\%\) $\%$ improvement in key rates compared to prior work for ET-QKD systems.