dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSecrecy, Computational Loads and Rates in Practical Quantum Cryptography
| Authors | G. Gilbert, M. Hamrick |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0106043 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0106043 |
| Journal | Algorithmica (2002) 34: 314-339 |
Abstract
A number of questions associated with practical implementations of quantum cryptography systems having to do with unconditional secrecy, computational loads and effective secrecy rates in the presence of perfect and imperfect sources are discussed. The different types of unconditional secrecy, and their relationship to general communications security, are discussed in the context of quantum cryptography. In order to actually carry out a quantum cryptography protocol it is necessary that sufficient computational resources be available to perform the various processing steps, such as sifting, error correction, privacy amplification and authentication. We display the full computer machine instruction requirements needed to support a practical quantum cryptography implementation. We carry out a numerical comparison of system performance characteristics for implementations that make use of either weak coherent sources of light or perfect single photon sources, for eavesdroppers making individual attacks on the quantum channel characterized by different levels of technological capability. We find that, while in some circumstances it is best to employ perfect single photon sources, in other situations it is preferable to utilize weak coherent sources. In either case the secrecy level of the final shared cipher is identical, with the relevant distinguishing figure-of-merit being the effective throughput rate.
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"abstract": "A number of questions associated with practical implementations of quantum\ncryptography systems having to do with unconditional secrecy, computational\nloads and effective secrecy rates in the presence of perfect and imperfect\nsources are discussed. The different types of unconditional secrecy, and their\nrelationship to general communications security, are discussed in the context\nof quantum cryptography. In order to actually carry out a quantum cryptography\nprotocol it is necessary that sufficient computational resources be available\nto perform the various processing steps, such as sifting, error correction,\nprivacy amplification and authentication. We display the full computer machine\ninstruction requirements needed to support a practical quantum cryptography\nimplementation. We carry out a numerical comparison of system performance\ncharacteristics for implementations that make use of either weak coherent\nsources of light or perfect single photon sources, for eavesdroppers making\nindividual attacks on the quantum channel characterized by different levels of\ntechnological capability. We find that, while in some circumstances it is best\nto employ perfect single photon sources, in other situations it is preferable\nto utilize weak coherent sources. In either case the secrecy level of the final\nshared cipher is identical, with the relevant distinguishing figure-of-merit\nbeing the effective throughput rate.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0106043",
"authors": [
"G. Gilbert",
"M. Hamrick"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"journal_ref": "Algorithmica (2002) 34: 314-339",
"title": "Secrecy, Computational Loads and Rates in Practical Quantum Cryptography",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0106043"
},
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