Walter Krawec

In this work, we analyze the security of a QKD repeater chain where some, but not all, repeaters and fiber links are under the control of an adversary. We show how to bound the quantum min-entropy for this scenario, needed to compute key-rates in the finite-key scenario. Our proof methods may also have numerous applications in other areas of QKD and quantum cryptographic research. Finally we evaluate our new bound and show that positive key-rates are possible even in noisy scenarios. Since early quantum repeaters are bound to be noisy, yet also bound to be partially trustworthy in some scenarios, our work shows improved bit generation rates are possible for early QKD networks.

Quantum key distribution offers unconditionally secure keys for communicating parties. Although using high-dimensional quantum systems in QKD protocols does offer considerable advantages, which has been extensively shown in different experiments, analytical security proofs for high-dimensional protocols are not abundant. This is partly because many QKD protocols lack certain ``symmetry'' in terms of the parties' capabilities and responsibilities, which complicates security proofs. In this work, we consider one such protocol and provide analytical security proof and compare our results against prior work showing an advantage of our method. We also develop a continuity bound for conditional quantum entropies which is pertinent to our analysis here and may have applications in other scenarios also.

There are two critical challenges that must be addressed for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to achieve wide-scale adoption. First, overcoming distance limitations and second increasing secret key generation rates. Our work investigates the design of novel routing algorithms for near-future QKD networks to help mitigate these problems. The networks we consider also may serve as a bridge between today's QKD networks and the long-term goal of a true Quantum Internet.

The use of quantum systems allows for new insights which promise to revolutionize information processing. Quantum cryptography, especially key distribution, has become one of the most prominent applications of quantum technology. However, this task still requires users to be capable of performing quantum operations, such as state preparation or measurements in multiple bases. A natural question, therefore, is can users' technological requirements be reduced? In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a novel quantum key distribution protocol where users are fully classical and quantum operations are only performed by an untrusted third party acting as a server. We derive an information theoretic proof of security for our protocol along with an experimental demonstration.