Practical four-dimensional quantum key distribution without entanglement

  • Authors:
  • William T. Buttler;Steven K. Lamoreaux;Justin R. Torgerson

  • Affiliations:
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Physics Division, Los Alamos, New Mexico;Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT;Los Alamos National Laboratory, Physics Division, Los Alamos, New Mexico

  • Venue:
  • Quantum Information & Computation
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

We describe a four-dimensional (D = 4) single-photon quantum cryptography protocol with up to twenty (D×(22 +1)) possible states generated by a polarization-, phase- and time-encoding transmitter. This protocol can be experimentally realized with existing technology, drawing from time- and polarization-encoded systems. The protocol is error tolerant and has a maximum raw bit rate of two raw bits per detection, which when combined with state detection efficiency yields a qubit rate of up to one per transmission under ideal assumptions, or up to twice the raw bit rate of two-dimensional protocols such as the well-known BB84 protocol.