Increased-Efficiency Multiple-Decoding-Attempts Error Correction for Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

TL;DR

This paper enhances the efficiency of error correction in continuous-variable quantum key distribution by implementing multiple decoding attempts, leading to higher secret key rates without increasing complexity.

Contribution

It introduces an improved multiple decoding attempts protocol for CV-QKD, validated through simulations showing significant SKR gains over existing methods.

Findings

Increased secret key rates compared to standard protocols.

Effective validation on simulated data across different scenarios.

Maintained decoding complexity while improving performance.

Abstract

In continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), the performance of the information reconciliation (IR) step is critical for the achievable secret key rate (SKR) and transmission distance. We show how to improve on the recently introduced implementation of an IR-protocol involving multiple decoding attempts (MDA) and validate the method on simulated data in different application scenarios. Throughout, we demonstrate meaningful SKR-gains compared to both the standard protocol of a single decoding attempt and to the original MDA-implementation, even at given decoding complexity.