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arXiv · 1410.0701

Safeguarding Quantum Key Distribution through Detection Randomization

Thiago Ferreira da Silva·Gustavo C. do Amaral·Guilherme B. Xavier·Guilherme P. Temporão·Jean Pierre von der Weid
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Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to render the detection apparatus of a Quantum Key Distribution system immune to the main classes of hacking attacks in which the eavesdropper explores the back-door opened by the single-photon detectors. The countermeasure is based on the creation of modes that are not deterministically accessible to the eavesdropper. We experimentally show that the use of beamsplitters and extra single-photon detectors at the receiver station passively creates randomized spatial modes that erase any knowledge the eavesdropper might have gained when using bright-light faked states. Additionally, we experimentally show a detector-scrambling approach where the random selection of the detector used for each measurement - equivalent to an active spatial mode randomization - hashes out the side-channel open by the detection efficiency mismatch-based attacks. The proposed combined countermeasure represents a practical and readily implementable solution against the main classes of quantum hacking attacks aimed on the single-photon detector so far, without intervening on the inner working of the devices.

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Thiago Ferreira da Silva, Gustavo C. do Amaral, Guilherme B. Xavier, Guilherme P. Temporão, Jean Pierre von der Weid. 2014-10-02. Safeguarding Quantum Key Distribution through Detection Randomization. https://doi.org/10.1109/jstqe.2014.2361793

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