Attacking a practical quantum-key-distribution system with wavelength-dependent beam-splitter and multiwavelength sources

Journal Article · Thu Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.84.062308· OSTI ID:22095568

Li, Hong-Wei ^[1]; Wang, Shuang; Huang, Jing-Zheng; Chen, Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Li, Fang-Yi; Zhou, Zheng; Liu, Dong; Zhang, Yang; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu ^[1]; Bao, Wan-Su ^[2]

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1. Key Laboratory of Quantum Information,University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 (China)
2. Zhengzhou Information Science and Technology Institute, Zhengzhou, 450004 (China)

It is well known that the unconditional security of quantum-key distribution (QKD) can be guaranteed by quantum mechanics. However, practical QKD systems have some imperfections, which can be controlled by the eavesdropper to attack the secret key. With current experimental technology, a realistic beam splitter, made by fused biconical technology, has a wavelength-dependent property. Based on this fatal security loophole, we propose a wavelength-dependent attacking protocol, which can be applied to all practical QKD systems with passive state modulation. Moreover, we experimentally attack a practical polarization encoding QKD system to obtain all the secret key information at the cost of only increasing the quantum bit error rate from 1.3 to 1.4%.

• OSTI ID: 22095568
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 84; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BEAM SPLITTING
ERRORS
MODULATION
POLARIZATION
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUANTUM STATES
QUBITS
WAVELENGTHS