Quantum Cryptography : The Concept and Challenges

Anand Sharma Ramesh Chandra Belwal

CSE Dept. CSE Dept.
MITS, Lakshmangarh, Sikar KEC, Almora
Rajasthan, India Uttrakhand, India
e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

Vishal goar Vibha Ojha

CSE Dept. CSE Dept.
ECB, Bikaner IITM, Gwalior
Rajasthan, India Madhya Pradesh, India
e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract— This Quantum cryptography is one of the secure communications system based on this technology.
emerging topics in the field of computer industry. This paper The system, known as SECOQC (Secure Communication
focus on quantum cryptography and how this technology based on Quantum Cryptography), will serve as a strategic
contributes value to a defense-in-depth strategy pertaining to defense against the Echelon intelligence gathering system
completely secure key distribution. The scope of this paper used by the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and
covers the technical challenges to implement the concepts of New Zealand . In addition, a handful of quantum information
quantum cryptography. We describe the quantum key processing companies, including MagiQ Technologies and
distribution by which two users who share no secret ID Quantique, are implementing quantum cryptography
information (without having any private or public keys known solutions to meet the needs of businesses, governments and
before hand) initially exchange a random quantum other institutions where preventing the unauthorized
transmission consisting of very faint flashes of polarized light.
disclosure of information has become a critical success factor
We are focusing on practical quantum key distribution, taking
into account channel losses, a realistic detection process, and
in maintaining a competitive advantage over adversaries.
imperfections in the “qubits” sent from the sender to the While the modern cryptosystems are said to be very effective
receiver. As we show, even quantum key distribution with in other words they are said to be “INTRACTABLE” then
perfect qubits might not be achievable over long distances why a lot of money is been spent to develop a new
when the other imperfections are taken into account.  cryptosystem – quantum cryptography ?

Keywords-cryptography;quantum cryptography; quantum

key distribution; challenges in QC II. QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY
Rather than depending on the complexity of factoring
I. INTRODUCTION large numbers, quantum cryptography is based on the
fundamental and unchanging principles of quantum
The most peculiar characteristics of quantum mechanics mechanics. In fact, quantum cryptography rests on two
are the existence of indivisible quanta and of entangled pillars of 20th century quantum mechanics – the Heisenberg
systems. Both of these are at the root of Quantum Uncertainty principle and the principle of photon
Cryptography (QC) which could very well be the first polarization.
commercial application of quantum physics at the individual According the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, it is not
quantum level. In addition to quantum mechanics, the 20th possible to measure the quantum state of any system without
century has been marked by two other major scientific disturbing that system. Thus, the polarization of a photon or
revolutions: the theory of information and relativity. It is less light particle can only be known at the point when it is
known that the concept of information, nowadays measured measured. This principle plays a critical role in thwarting the
in bits, and the formalization of probabilities is quite recent, attempts of eavesdroppers in a cryptosystem based on
although they have a tremendous impact on our daily life. It quantum cryptography. Secondly, the photon polarization
is fascinating to realize that QC lies at the intersection of principle describes how light photons can be oriented or
quantum mechanics and information theory and that, polarized in specific directions. Moreover, a polarized
moreover, the tension between quantum mechanics and photon can only be detected by a photon filter with the
relativity – the famous EPR paradox (Einstein et al.1935) – correct polarization or else the photon will be destroyed. It is
is closely connected to the security of QC. this “one-way-ness” of photons along with the Heisenberg
Quantum cryptography recently made headlines when Uncertainty principle that make quantum cryptography an
European Union members announced their intention to
invest $13 million in the research and development of a
978-1-4244-5586-7/10/$26.00 C 2010 IEEE

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attractive option for ensuring the privacy of data and diagonal (45 or 135 degrees) and keep a log of the results
defeating eavesdroppers. based on which measurements were correct vis-à-vis the
Charles H. Bennet and Gilles Brassard developed the polarizations that Alice selected. While a portion of the
concept of quantum cryptography in 1984 as part of a study stream of photons will disintegrate over the distance of the
between physics and information. Bennet and Brassad stated link, only a predetermined portion is required to build a key
that an encryption key could be created depending on the sequence for a onetime pad. Next, using an out of-band
amount of photons reaching a recipient and how they were communication system, Bob will inform Alice to the type of
received. Their belief corresponds to the fact that light can measurement made and which measurements were of the
behave with the characteristics of particles in addition to correct type without mentioning the actual results. The
light waves. These photons can be polarized at various photons that were incorrectly measured will be discarded,
orientations and these orientations can be used to represent while the correctly measured photons are translated into bits
bits encompassing ones and zeros. These bits can be used as based on their polarization. These photons are used to form
a reliable method of forming onetime pads and support the basis of a onetime pad for sending encrypted information.
systems like PKI by delivering keys in a secure fashion. The It is important to point out that neither Alice nor Bob are able
representation of bits through polarized photons is the to determine what the key will be in advance because the key
foundation of quantum cryptography that serves as the is the product of both their random choices. Thus, quantum
underlying principle of quantum key distribution. Thus, cryptography enables the distribution of a onetime key
while the strength of modern digital cryptography is exchanged securely.
dependent on the computational difficulty of factoring large
numbers, quantum cryptography is completely dependent on IV. CHALLENGES
the rules of physics and is also independent of the processing
power of current computing systems. The very first demonstration of QC was a table top
Since the principle of physics will always hold true, experiment performed at the IBM laboratory in the early
quantum cryptography provides an answer to the uncertainty 1990’s over a distance of 30 cm (Bennett et al. 1992a),
problem that current cryptography suffers from; it is no marking the start of impressive experimental improvements
longer necessary to make assumptions about the computing during the last years. The 30 cm distance is of little practical
power of malicious attackers or the development of a interest. Either the distance should be even shorter, think of a
theorem to quickly solve the large integer factorization credit card and the ATM machine (Huttner et al. 1996 b), but
problem. in this case all of Alice’s components should fit on the credit
card.
III. QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION
A nice idea, but still impractical with present technology.
Or the distance should be much longer, at least in the km
Figure 1 shows an example of how quantum range. Most of the research so far uses optical fibers to guide
cryptography can be used to securely distribute keys. This the photons from Alice to Bob and we shall mainly
example includes a sender, “Alice”, a receiver, “Bob”, and a concentrate here on such systems. In this section we
malicious eavesdropper, “Eve”. successively consider the questions “how to produce single
photons?”, “how to transmit them?”, “how to detect single
photons?” and finally “how to exploit the intrinsic
randomness of quantum processes to build random
generators?”
A. Photon Sources
Optical quantum cryptography is based on the use of
single photon Fock states. Unfortunately, these states are
difficult to realize experimentally. Nowadays, practical
implementations rely on faint laser pulses or entangled
photon pairs, where both the photon as well as the photon-
pair number distribution obeys Poisson statistics. Hence,
both possibilities suffer from a small probability of
generating more than one photon or photon pair at the same
time. For large losses in the quantum channel even small
fractions of these multi-photons can have important
Alice begins by sending a message to Bob using a photon consequences on the security of the key, leading to interest in
gun to send a stream of photons randomly chosen in one of “photon guns”.
four polarizations that correspond to vertical, horizontal or
diagonal in opposing directions (0,45,90 or 135 degrees). For B. Quantum Channels
each individual photon, Bob will randomly choose a filter The single photon source and the detectors must be
and use a photon receiver to count and measure the connected by a “ quantum channel”. Such a channel is
polarization which is either rectilinear (0 or 90 degrees) or actually nothing specially quantum, except that it is intended

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to carry information encoded in individual quantum systems. D. Quantum Random Number Generators
Here “individual” doesn’t mean “non decomposable”, it is The key used in the one-time-pad must be secret and
meant in opposition to “ensemble”. used only once. Consequently, it must be as long as the
The idea is that the information is coded in a physical message and must be perfectly random. The later point
system only once, contrary to classical communication where proves to be a delicate and interesting one. Computers are
many photons carry the same information. Note that the deterministic systems that cannot create truly random
present day limit for fiber-based classical optical numbers. But all secure cryptosystems, both classical and
communication is already down to a few tens of photons, quantum ones, require truly random numbers. Hence, the
although in practice one usually uses many more. With the random numbers must be created by a random physical
increasing bit rate and the limited mean power – imposed to process. Moreover, to make sure that the random process is
avoid nonlinear effects in silica fibers – these figures are not merely looking random with some hidden deterministic
likely to get closer and closer to the quantum domain. The pattern, it is necessary that it is completely understood. It is
individual quantum systems are usually 2-level systems, thus of interest to implement a simple process in order to
called qubits. During their propagation they must be gain confidence in its proper operation. In this case the
protected from environmental noise. Here “environment” randomness is in principle guaranteed by the laws of
refers to everything outside the degree of freedom used for quantum mechanics, though, one still has to be very careful
the encoding, which is not necessarily outside the physical not to introduce any experimental artifact that could correlate
system. If, for example, the information is encoded in the adjacent bits. Different experimental realizations have been
polarization state, then the optical frequencies of the photon demonstrated (Hildebrand 2001, Stefanov et al. 2000,
is part of the environment. Jennewein et al. 2000a) and prototypes are commercially
Hence, coupling between the polarization and the optical available. One particular problem is the dead time of the
frequency has to be mastered (e.g. avoid wavelength detectors, that may introduce a strong anti correlation
sensitive polarizer and birefringence). Moreover, the sender between neighboring bits. Similarly, after pulses may
of the qubits should avoid any correlation between the provoke a correlation. These detector-related effects increase
polarization and the spectrum of the photons. Another with higher pulse rates, limiting the bit rate of quantum
difficulty is that the bases used by Alice to code the qubits number generator to some MHz..
and the bases used by Bob for his measurements must be
related by a known and stable unitary transformation. Once E. Quantum Repeaters
this unitary transformation is known, Alice and Bob can Today’s fiber based QC systems are limited to tens of
compensate for it and get the expected correlation between kilometers. This is due to the combination of fiber losses
their preparations and measurements. If it changes with time, and detectors’ noise. The losses by themselves do only
they need an active feedback to track it, and if the changes reduce the bit rate (exponentially with the distance), but
are too fast the communication must be interrupted.
with perfect detectors the distance would not be limited.
C. Single Photon Detection However, because of the dark counts, each time a photon is
With the availability of pseudo single photon and photon- lost there is a chance that a dark count produces an error.
pair sources, the success of quantum cryptography is Hence, when the probability of a dark count becomes
essentially dependent on the possibility to detect single comparable to the probability that a photon is correctly
photons. detected, the signal to noise ratio tends to 0 (more precisely
In principle, this can be achieved using a variety of the mutual information I(, ) tends to a lower bound.
techniques, for instance photo-multipliers, avalanche-
photodiodes, multichannel plates, superconducting
Josephson junctions. The ideal detector should fulfill the V. CONCLUSION
following requirements: While there have been substantial advancements in the
x it should feature a high quantum detection efficiency field of quantum cryptography in the last decade, there are
over a large spectral range, still challenges ahead before quantum cryptography can
x the probability of generating noise, that is a signal become a widely deployed key distribution system for
without a photon arriving, should be small, governments, businesses, and individual citizens. Namely,
x to ensure a good timing resolution, the time between these challenges include developing more advanced
detection of a photon and generation of an electrical hardware to enable higher quality and longer transmission
signal should be as constant as possible, i.e. the time distances for quantum key exchange. However, the
jitter should be small,. advances in computer processing power and the threat of
x the recovery time (i.e. the dead time) should be small obsolescence for today’s cryptography systems will remain
to allow high data rates. a driving force in the continued research and development
In addition, it is important to keep the detectors handy. of quantum cryptography. Quantum cryptography is still in
For instance, a detector which needs liquid helium or even its infancy and so far looks very promising. This technology
nitrogen cooling would certainly render a commercial has the potential to make a valuable contribution to e-
development difficult. commerce and business security, personal security, and
security among government organizations. If quantum

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cryptography turns out to eventually meet even some of its [4] Bell,J.S.,1964,“ On the problem of hidden variables in quantum
expectations, it will have a profound and revolutionary mechanics”,Review of Modern Phys. 38, 447-452; reprinted in
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orthogonal states”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3121-3124.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[6] Bennett, Ch.H.and G. Brassard,1984,“Quantum cryptography: public
We express our profound gratitude to all faculty members of key distribution and coin tossing”, Int. conf. Computers, Systems &
MITS Lakshmangarh, and KEC, Almora for their readiness Signal Processing, Bangalore, India, December 10-12, 175-179.
at all the times to help us and whose critical suggestions, [7] Bennett, Ch.H.and G.Brassard, 1985,“Quantum public key
distribution system”,IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, 28, 3153-
discussions and guidance can not be valued in words to the 3163.
logical conclusion of this work .Again with a profound [8] Bennett, ChH.,G. Brassard and J.-M.Robert,1988, “Privacy
sense of gratitude, we record our indebtedness to all the amplification by public discussion” SIAM J. Comp. 17, 210-229.
colleagues. The nurturing and blossoming of the present [9] Bennett,Ch.H.G.Brassard,LSalvail,and J.Smolin,1992a,“Experimental
work was mainly due to their valuable guidance, astute Quantum Cryptography ” , J. Cryptology 5, 3-28.
judgment, constructive criticism and an eye for perfection, [10] . Bennett, Ch.H., G. Brassard and Mermin N.D., 1992b, “Quantum
cryptography without Bell’s theorem”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 557-559.
Without their overwhelming interest, the present work
[11] Bennett, Ch. H., G. Brassard, C. Cr´epeau, and U.M. Maurer,
would not have seen the light of the day. finally we express 1995, “Generalized privacy amplification”, IEEE Trans. Information
our gratitude to our parents for their support and wishes. th.,41,1915-1923.
[12] Berry, M.V., 1984, “Quantal phase factorsaccompanying adiabatic
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