Effects of the propagation characteristic of atmosphere on performance of quantum key distribution
Changxing Pei · Chinese Journal of Radio Science · 2009
Considering attenuation and depolarization effects on Earth space paths,a model for propagation of pulsed single photon source coded with polarization in stratospheric quantum communication system is obtained theoretically. The relationship of key generation rate between atmospheric attenuation and zenith angle is obtained. Numerical analysis shows atmospheric attenuation affects the generation rate of quantum key obviously. Depolarization effects caused by rainfall increases the quantum bit error rate.