Thermal state quantum key distribution

Abstract

Abstract We analyse a central broadcast continuous variable quantum key distribution protocol in which a beam produced by a thermal source is used to create a secret key between two parties, Alice and Bob. A beam splitter divides the initial beam into a pair of output beams, which are sent to Alice and Bob, with Eve intercepting Bob’s beam. We investigate the protocol in detail, calculating mutual informations through a pair of analytic methods and comparing the results to the outputs of a Monte Carlo simulation of the protocol. In a lossless system, we find that a lower bound on the key rate remains positive in the protocol under a beam splitter attack, provided Bob receives a nonzero proportion of the beam initially sent to him. This suggests that the thermal state protocol could be used experimentally to produce secure keys.