Symmetric Blind Information Reconciliation for Quantum Key Distribution
E. O. Kiktenko, A. S. Trushechkin, C. C. W. Lim, Y. V. Kurochkin, A. K. Fedorov · Physical Review Applied · 2017
Even with quantum key distribution for guaranteed secure communication, errors can creep in. Information reconciliation is used to fix any mismatched bits in the secret keys of conversationalists Alice and Bob, rendering their keys identical (and thus useful) once again. In particular, $b\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d$ $r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n$ is appealing for key correction, as it does not require an $a$ $p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i$ estimate of the quantum bit-error rate. The authors show that introducing symmetry into the blind-reconciliation scheme significantly improves the procedure's efficiency, providing a path to higher throughput of keys---and secure data.