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Fundamental rate-loss tradeoff for optical quantum key distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Masahiro Takeoka

    (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
    Quantum Information Processing Group, Raytheon BBN Technologies)

  • Saikat Guha

    (Quantum Information Processing Group, Raytheon BBN Technologies)

  • Mark M. Wilde

    (Center for Computation and Technology, Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics, Louisiana State University)

Abstract

Since 1984, various optical quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols have been proposed and examined. In all of them, the rate of secret key generation decays exponentially with distance. A natural and fundamental question is then whether there are yet-to-be discovered optical QKD protocols (without quantum repeaters) that could circumvent this rate-distance tradeoff. This paper provides a major step towards answering this question. Here we show that the secret key agreement capacity of a lossy and noisy optical channel assisted by unlimited two-way public classical communication is limited by an upper bound that is solely a function of the channel loss, regardless of how much optical power the protocol may use. Our result has major implications for understanding the secret key agreement capacity of optical channels—a long-standing open problem in optical quantum information theory—and strongly suggests a real need for quantum repeaters to perform QKD at high rates over long distances.

Suggested Citation

  • Masahiro Takeoka & Saikat Guha & Mark M. Wilde, 2014. "Fundamental rate-loss tradeoff for optical quantum key distribution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6235
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6235
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    Cited by:

    1. Pei Zeng & Hongyi Zhou & Weijie Wu & Xiongfeng Ma, 2022. "Mode-pairing quantum key distribution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Lai Zhou & Jinping Lin & Yumang Jing & Zhiliang Yuan, 2023. "Twin-field quantum key distribution without optical frequency dissemination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Liu, Xiao-Peng & Kang, Jia-Le & Xie, Jia-Hui & Zhang, Ming-Hui, 2022. "Efficient twin-field quantum key distribution with heralded single-photon source," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 608(P1).

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