New protocols for non-orthogonal quantum key distribution

Combining the passive decoy-state idea with the active decoy-state idea, a non-orthogonal （SARG04） decoy-state protocol with one vacuum and two weak decoy states is introduced based on a heralded pair coherent state photon source for quantum key distribution. Two special cases of this protocol are deduced, i.e., a one-vacuum-and-one-weak-decoy-state protocol and a one-weak-decoy-state protocol. In these protocols, the sender prepares decoy states actively, which avoids the crude estimation of parameters in the SARG04 passive decoy-state method. With the passive decoy-state idea, the detection events on Bob＇s side that are non-triggered on Alice＇s side are not discarded, but used to estimate the fractions of single-photon and two-photon pulses, which offsets the limitation of the detector＇s low efficiency and overcomes the shortcoming that the performance of the active decoy-state protocol critically depends on the efficiency of detector. The simulation results show that the combination of the active and passive decoy-state ideas increases the key generation rate. With a one-vacuum-and-two-weak-decoy-state protocol, one can achieve a key generation rate that is close to the theoretical limit of an infinite decoy-state protocol. The performance of the other two protocols is a little less than with the former, but the implementation is easier. Under the same condition of implementation, higher key rates can be obtained with our protocols than with existing methods.

Practical non-orthogonal decoy state quantum key distribution with heralded single photon source

Recently the performance of the quantum key distribution （QKD） is substantially improved by the decoy state method and the non-orthogonal encoding protocol, separately. In this paper, a practical non-orthogonal decoy state protocol with a heralded single photon source （HSPS） for QKD is presented. The protocol is based on 4 states with different intensities. i.e. one signal state and three decoy states. The signal state is for generating keys; the decoy states are for detecting the eavesdropping and estimating the fraction of single-photon and two-photon pulses. We have discussed three cases of this protocol, i.e. the general case, the optimal case and the special case. Moreover, the final key rate over transmission distance is simulated. For the low dark count of the HSPS and the utilization of the two-photon pulses, our protocol has a higher key rate and a longer transmission distance than any other decoy state protocol.