title: Key reconciliation for high performance quantum key distribution.
abstract: Quantum Key Distribution is carving its place among the tools used to secure communications. While a difficult technology, it enjoys benefits that set it apart from the rest, the most prominent is its provable security based on the laws of physics. QKD requires not only the mastering of signals at the quantum level, but also a classical processing to extract a secret-key from them. This postprocessing has been customarily studied in terms of the efficiency, a figure of merit that offers a biased view of the performance of real devices. Here we argue that it is the throughput the significant magnitude in practical QKD, specially in the case of high speed devices, where the differences are more marked, and give some examples contrasting the usual postprocessing schemes with new ones from modern coding theory. A good understanding of its implications is very important for the design of modern QKD devices.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid UPM, Campus de Montegancedo, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez-Mateo
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elkouss
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016494:Computer Security; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
references.citation: Opt Express. 2012 Jun 18;20(13):14030-41
references.pmid: 22714468