Abstract
We consider the noisy thermal amplifier channel, where signal modes are amplified together with environmental thermal modes. We focus on the secret-key capacity of this channel, which is the maximum amount of secret bits that two remote parties can generate by means of the most general adaptive protocol, assisted by unlimited and two-way classical communication. For this channel only upper and lower bounds are known, and in this work we improve the lower bound. We consider a protocol based on squeezed states and homodyne detections, in both direct and reverse reconciliation. In particular, we assume that trusted thermal noise is mixed on beam splitters controlled by the parties in a way to assist their homodyne detections. The new improved lower bounds to the secret-key capacity are obtained by optimizing the key rates over the variance of the trusted noise injected, and the transmissivity of the parties’ beam splitters. Our results confirm that there is a separation between the coherent information of the thermal amplifier channel and its secret key capacity.
Graphical abstract
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Watrous, The Theory of Quantum Information (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2018)
M. Hayashi, Quantum Information Theory: Mathematical Foundation (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2017)
W.K. Wootters, W.H Zurek, Nature 299, 802 (1982)
V. Scarani et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1301 (2009)
S.L. Braunstein, P. van Loock, Rev. Mod. Phys. 77, 513 (2005)
C. Weedbrook et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 621 (2012)
T. Serikawa, A. Furusawa, https://doi.org/arXiv:1803.06462 (2018)
F. Grosshans et al., Nature 421, 238 (2003)
C. Weedbrook et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 170504 (2004)
A.M. Lance et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 180503 (2005)
C. Silberhorn, T.C. Ralph, N. Lütkenhaus, G. Leuchs, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 167901 (2002)
R. García-Patrón, N.J. Cerf, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 130501 (2009)
R. Filip, Phys. Rev. A 77, 022310 (2008)
V.C. Usenko, R. Filip, Phys. Rev. A 81, 022318 (2010)
C. Weedbrook, S. Pirandola, T.C. Ralph, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 110501 (2010)
C. Weedbrook, S. Pirandola, S. Lloyd, T.C. Ralph, Phys. Rev. A 86, 022318 (2012)
C.S. Jacobsen, T. Gehring, U.L. Andersen, Entropy 17, 4654 (2015)
V.C. Usenko, R. Filip, Entropy 18, 20 (2016)
V.C. Usenko, F. Grosshans, Phys. Rev. A 92, 062337 (2015)
A. Leverrier, F. Grosshans, P. Grangier, Phys. Rev. A 81, 062343 (2010)
A. Leverrier, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 070501 (2015)
F. Furrer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 100502 (2012)
F. Furrer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 019902(E) (2014)
S. Pirandola, S. Mancini, S. Lloyd, S.L. Braunstein, Nat. Phys. 4, 726 (2008)
C. Ottaviani, S. Mancini, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 92, 062323 (2015)
C. Ottaviani, S. Pirandola, Sci. Rep. 6, 22225 (2016)
C. Weedbrook, C. Ottaviani, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 89, 012309 (2014)
J.H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. A 80, 022320 (2009)
Q. Zhuang, Z. Zhang, J. Dove, F.N.C. Wong, J.H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. A 94, 012322 (2016)
Q. Zhuang, Z. Zhang, N. Lütkenhaus, J.H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. A 98, 032332 (2018)
S. Ghorai, E. Diamanti, A. Leverrier, Composable security of two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution, https://doi.org/arXiv:1806.11356 (2018)
S. Pirandola et al., Nat. Photon. 9, 397 (2015)
C. Ottaviani, G. Spedalieri, S.L. Braunstein, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 91, 022320 (2015)
Z. Li et al., Phys. Rev. A 89, 052301 (2014)
Y. Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. A 90, 052325 (2014)
P. Papanastasiou, C. Ottaviani, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 96, 042332 (2017)
C. Lupo, C. Ottaviani, P. Papanastasiou, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 97, 052327 (2018)
C. Lupo, C. Ottaviani, P. Papanastasiou, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 220505 (2018)
S. Pirandola, R. Laurenza, C. Ottaviani, L. Banchi, Nat. Commun. 8, 15043 (2017)
T.P.W. Cope, L. Hetzel, L. Banchi, S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. A 96, 022323 (2017)
S. Pirandola, R. Laurenza, L. Banchi, Ann. Phys. 400, 289 (2019)
T.P.W. Cope, K. Goodenough, S. Pirandola, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 494001 (2018)
S. Pirandola, S.L. Braunstein, R. Laurenza, C. Ottaviani, T.P.W. Cope, G. Spedalieri, L. Banchi, Quantum Sci. Technol. 3, 035009 (2018)
S. Pirandola, R. Laurenza, S.L. Braunstein, Eur. Phys. J. D 72, 162 (2018)
C. Ottaviani et al., Quantum Inf. Sci. Technol. II 9996, 999609 (2016)
B. Schumacher, M.A. Nielsen, Phys. Rev. A 54, 2629 (1996)
S. Lloyd, Phys. Rev. A 55, 1613 (1997)
K. Horodecki, M. Horodecki, P. Horodecki, J. Oppenheim, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 160502 (2005)
A.S. Holevo, R.F. Werner, Phys. Rev. A 63, 032312 (2001)
S. Pirandola, R. García-Patrón, S.L. Braunstein, S. Lloyd, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 050503 (2009)
V. Vedral, Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 197 (2002)
V. Vedral, M.B. Plenio, M.A. Rippin, P.L. Knight, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2275 (1997)
V. Vedral, M.B. Plenio, Phys. Rev. A 57, 1619 (1998)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Contribution to the Topical Issue “Quantum Correlations”, edited by Marco Genovese, Vahid Karimipour, Sergei Kulik, and Olivier Pfister.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://doi.org/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, G., Ottaviani, C., Guo, H. et al. Improving the lower bound to the secret-key capacity of the thermal amplifier channel. Eur. Phys. J. D 73, 17 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2018-90351-0
Received:
Revised:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2018-90351-0