APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING SECRET KEY RATE EXCHANGE OVER QUANTUM CHANNEL IN QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

摘要

An apparatus for enhancing secret key rate exchange over quantum channel in QKD systems comprises an emitter system (105) with a quantum emitter (140) and a receiver system (205) with a quantum receiver (240). Emitter system (105) and the receiver system (205) are connected by a quantum channel (600) and a service communication channel (500). User interfaces (120, 220) within the emitter and the receiver systems (105, 205) allow to define a first quantum channel loss budget (t C-D ) based on the distance to be covered between the quantum emitter (140) and the quantum receiver (240) and the infrastructure properties of the quantum channel (600) as well as a second quantum channel loss budget (t A-C ), wherein the second quantum channel loss budget (t A-C ) is associated to the loss within the realm of the emitter system (105). The emitter system (105) is adapted to define the optimal mean number of photons of coherent states to be emitted based on the first and the second quantum channel loss budgets.