Towards Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution with Photonic Devices

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lanore, Corentin, Valcarce, Xavier, Etesse, Jean, Martin, Anthony, Bancal, Jean-Daniel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Lanore, Corentin
Valcarce, Xavier
Etesse, Jean
Martin, Anthony
Bancal, Jean-Daniel
author_facet Lanore, Corentin
Valcarce, Xavier
Etesse, Jean
Martin, Anthony
Bancal, Jean-Daniel
contents Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols enable two distant parties to communicate with information-theoretically proven secrecy. However, these protocols are generally vulnerable to potential mismatches between the physical modeling and the implementation of their quantum operations, thereby opening opportunities for side channel attacks. Device-Independent (DI) QKD addresses this problem by reducing the degree of device modeling to a black-box setting. The stronger security obtained in this way comes at the cost of a reduced noise tolerance, rendering experimental demonstrations more challenging: so far, only one experiment based on trapped ions was able to successfully generate a secret key. Photonic platforms have however long been preferred for QKD thanks to their suitability to optical fiber transmission, high repetition rates, readily available hardware, and potential for circuit integration. In this work, we assess the feasibility of DIQKD on a photonic circuit recently identified by machine learning techniques. For this, we introduce an efficient converging hierarchy of semi-definite programs (SDP) to bound the conditional von Neumann entropy and develop a finite-statistics analysis that takes into account full outcome statistics. Our analysis shows that the proposed optical circuit is sufficiently resistant to noise to make an experimental realization realistic.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_14373
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution with Photonic Devices
Lanore, Corentin
Valcarce, Xavier
Etesse, Jean
Martin, Anthony
Bancal, Jean-Daniel
Quantum Physics
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols enable two distant parties to communicate with information-theoretically proven secrecy. However, these protocols are generally vulnerable to potential mismatches between the physical modeling and the implementation of their quantum operations, thereby opening opportunities for side channel attacks. Device-Independent (DI) QKD addresses this problem by reducing the degree of device modeling to a black-box setting. The stronger security obtained in this way comes at the cost of a reduced noise tolerance, rendering experimental demonstrations more challenging: so far, only one experiment based on trapped ions was able to successfully generate a secret key. Photonic platforms have however long been preferred for QKD thanks to their suitability to optical fiber transmission, high repetition rates, readily available hardware, and potential for circuit integration. In this work, we assess the feasibility of DIQKD on a photonic circuit recently identified by machine learning techniques. For this, we introduce an efficient converging hierarchy of semi-definite programs (SDP) to bound the conditional von Neumann entropy and develop a finite-statistics analysis that takes into account full outcome statistics. Our analysis shows that the proposed optical circuit is sufficiently resistant to noise to make an experimental realization realistic.
title Towards Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution with Photonic Devices
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.14373