Scholarlink

<p>While many quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols offer strong theoretical guarantees, their reliance on ideal single-photon sources and complex hardware introduces implementation level vulnerabilities. The Coherent One-Way (COW) QKD protocol offers a practical and hardware efficient alternative, particularly suited for short-distance deployments such as metropolitan networks. We implemented the COW protocol and focussed on the generation of composable secure keys, which are critical for real-world integration with third-party encryption systems. Achieving such a level of security requires rigorous estimation and control of critical parameters such as detector count rates, QBER, and visibility. We calculate the maximum achievable secret key rate for a composable security parameter <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\epsilon _{sec} \approx 4 \times 10^{-9}\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>ϵ</mi> <mrow> <mi mathvariant="italic">sec</mi> </mrow> </msub> <mo>≈</mo> <mn>4</mn> <mo>×</mo> <msup> <mn>10</mn> <mrow> <mo>-</mo> <mn>9</mn> </mrow> </msup> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. Our implementation demonstrates that with stable system operation and precise parameter estimation, an average <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\epsilon _{sec}\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>ϵ</mi> <mrow> <mi mathvariant="italic">sec</mi> </mrow> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> secure key rate of approximately 2 kbps can be achieved. This key rate is sufficient to continuously supply keys to external application entities, enabling secure encryption over public networks.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Experimental composable secure key rate in COW QKD system

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月18日

查看全文
  • Vivek Kumar,
  • Ayan Biswas,
  • Prasanta Halder,
  • Arka Mukherjee,
  • Akriti Katiyar,
  • Prashant Kumar Rathore,
  • Atul Kumar Gupta,
  • Pankaj Kumar Dalela,
  • Rajkumar Upadhyay

摘要

While many quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols offer strong theoretical guarantees, their reliance on ideal single-photon sources and complex hardware introduces implementation level vulnerabilities. The Coherent One-Way (COW) QKD protocol offers a practical and hardware efficient alternative, particularly suited for short-distance deployments such as metropolitan networks. We implemented the COW protocol and focussed on the generation of composable secure keys, which are critical for real-world integration with third-party encryption systems. Achieving such a level of security requires rigorous estimation and control of critical parameters such as detector count rates, QBER, and visibility. We calculate the maximum achievable secret key rate for a composable security parameter \(\epsilon _{sec} \approx 4 \times 10^{-9}\) ϵ sec ≈ 4 × 10 - 9 . Our implementation demonstrates that with stable system operation and precise parameter estimation, an average \(\epsilon _{sec}\) ϵ sec secure key rate of approximately 2 kbps can be achieved. This key rate is sufficient to continuously supply keys to external application entities, enabling secure encryption over public networks.