Distributing Secret Keys with Quantum Continuous Variables: Principle, Security and Implementations

Understand

The ability to distribute secret keys between two parties with information-theoretic security, that is, regardless of the capacities of a malevolent eavesdropper, is one of the most celebrated results in the field of quantum information processing and communication.

• Indeed, quantum key distribution illustrates the power of encoding information on the quantum properties of light and has far reaching implications in high-security applications.
• Today, quantum key distribution systems operate in real-world conditions and are commercially available.
• As with most quantum information protocols, quantum key distribution was first designed for qubits, the individual quanta of information.