Higher-dimensional orbital-angular-momentum-based quantum key distribution with mutually unbiased bases

Mhlambululi Mafu, Angela Dudley, Sandeep Goyal, Daniel Giovannini, Melanie McLaren, Miles J. Padgett, Thomas Konrad, Francesco Petruccione, Norbert Lütkenhaus, and Andrew Forbes
Phys. Rev. A 88, 032305 – Published 5 September 2013

Abstract

We present an experimental study of higher-dimensional quantum key distribution protocols based on mutually unbiased bases, implemented by means of photons carrying orbital angular momentum. We perform (d+1) mutually unbiased measurements in a classically simulated prepare-and-measure scheme and on a pair of entangled photons for dimensions ranging from d=2 to 5. In our analysis, we pay attention to the detection efficiency and photon pair creation probability. As security measures, we determine from experimental data the average error rate, the mutual information shared between the sender and receiver, and the secret key generation rate per photon. We demonstrate that increasing the dimension leads to an increased information capacity as well as higher key generation rates per photon. However, we find that the benefit of increasing the dimension is limited by practical implementation considerations, which in our case results in deleterious effects observed beyond a dimension of d=4.

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  • Received 26 June 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.032305

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Mhlambululi Mafu1, Angela Dudley2, Sandeep Goyal1, Daniel Giovannini3, Melanie McLaren2, Miles J. Padgett3, Thomas Konrad1,4, Francesco Petruccione1, Norbert Lütkenhaus5, and Andrew Forbes2,*

  • 1School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
  • 2CSIR National Laser Centre, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
  • 3School of Physics and Astronomy, SUPA, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
  • 4National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
  • 5Institute for Quantum Computing & Department for Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

  • *Corresponding author: aforbes1@csir.co.za

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Vol. 88, Iss. 3 — September 2013

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