A survey of quantum key distribution protocols

  • Authors:
  • Mobin Javed;Khurram Aziz

  • Affiliations:
  • NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan;NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Quantum cryptography offers a promising unbreakable cryptographic solution as it ensures perfect secrecy in applications such as quantum key distribution and bit commitment. The focus of this paper is to trace the development of quantum key distribution protocols and discuss the state of the art and open issues in this field. Although the protocols have mathematically proven to be totally secure, it must be emphasized that any real world implementation suffers the limitations of physical devices which can serve as vulnerability for an eavesdropper to exploit. In this paper, we survey the quantum key distribution protocols which exist in literature and explore the attacks to which they are vulnerable. We highlight the main implementation bottlenecks related with each implementation and the solutions proposed thereof.