Sufficiency of quantum non-Gaussianity for discrete-variable quantum key distribution over noisy channel

Abstract

Quantum key distribution can be enhanced and extended if nonclassical single-photon states of light are used. We study a connection between the security of quantum key distribution and quantum non-Gaussianity of light arriving at the receiver's detection system after the propagation through a noisy quantum channel, being under full control of an eavesdropper performing general collective attacks. We show that while quantum nonclassicality exhibited by the light arriving at the receiver's station is a necessary indication of the security of the discrete-variable protocols, quantum non-Gaussianity can be a sufficient indication of their security. Therefore, checking for non-Gaussianity of this light by performing standard autocorrelation function measurement can be used for prior verification of the usability of prepare-and-measure schemes. It can play similar role to the prior verification of the quantum correlations sufficient to violate Bell inequalities for entanglement-based protocols.

15 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Device-independent security of quantum cryptography against collective attacks
• Distillation of secret key and entanglement from quantum states
• A measure of the non-Gaussian character of a quantum state
• Intracity quantum communication via thermal microwave networks
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• Effect of source statistics on utilizing photon entanglement in quantum key distribution
• A multipair-free source of entangled photons in the solid state
• Direct detection of quantum non-Gaussian light from a dispersively coupled single atom
• Beating the repeaterless bound with adaptive measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution
• Detecting nonclassicality and non-Gaussianity of a coherent superposed quantum state