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High-throughput and low-cost LDPC reconciliation for quantum key distribution

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Abstract

Reconciliation is a crucial procedure in post-processing of quantum key distribution (QKD), which is used for correcting the error bits in sifted key strings. Although most studies about reconciliation of QKD focus on how to improve the efficiency, throughput optimizations have become the highlight in high-speed QKD systems. Many researchers adopt high-cost GPU implementations to improve the throughput. In this paper, an alternative high-throughput and high-efficiency solution implemented in low-cost CPU is proposed. The main contribution of the research is the design of a quantized LDPC decoder including improved RCBP-based check node processing and saturation-oriented variable node processing. Experiment results show that the throughput up to 60 Mbps is achieved using the bidirectional approach with reconciliation efficiency approaching to 1.1, which is the optimal combination of throughput and efficiency in discrete-variable QKD. Meanwhile, the performance remains stable when quantum bit error rate varies from 1 to 8%.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Space Science and Technology Advance Research Joint Funds (6141B06110105) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers: 61531003, 61771168, 61702224). Many thanks are extended to Prof. Z.F. Han and Prof. T. Liu for the helpful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Countermeasure Technique Institute, School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150080, China

    Haokun Mao, Qiong Li & Qi Han

  2. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, and Institute of Quantum Electronics, School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, and Center for Quantum Information Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Hong Guo

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  1. Haokun Mao
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Correspondence to Qiong Li.

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Mao, H., Li, Q., Han, Q. et al. High-throughput and low-cost LDPC reconciliation for quantum key distribution. Quantum Inf Process 18, 232 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-019-2342-2

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