Improving key rates by tighter information reconciliation leakage estimation for quantum key distribution

Improving key rates by tighter information reconciliation leakage estimation for quantum key distribution | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Improving key rates by tighter information reconciliation leakage estimation for quantum key distribution Mao Hao-Kun, Yang Bo, Qiao Yu-Cheng, Yan Bing-Ze, Zhao Qiang, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7196197/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Previous research has aimed to precisely estimate information leakage to improve the secure key rate (SKR) and maximum transmission distance in quantum key distribution (QKD). However, existing methods repeatedly considered the information of the multi-photon pulses known to Eve before and after information reconciliation, resulting in an overestimation of the leakage amount. We propose a novel approach that considers the quantum part's effect on post-processing, providing a more accurate estimation of information reconciliation leakage to improve the SKR. Theoretical analysis shows that our method more accurately estimates the information reconciliation leakage, significantly improving the SKR at any distance as well as the maximum transmission distance. It is worth mentioning that previous studies treat information leakage of the error correction as the Shannon bound \(Nh(e)\) , and our method can estimate it more tightly. Simulation results for decoy-BB84 and measurement-device-independent (MDI) protocols using Cascade are consistent with the theoretical analysis. The farther the transmission distance, the greater the growth rate of SKR. When the error rate is 33%, compared with the original method, the SKR growth rate of decoy-BB84 at 100KM is 100.4%, and the transmission distance of MDI increases by 22KM. Quantum key distribution Information reconciliation Secure key rate Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7196197","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":503947246,"identity":"97616827-ea59-4499-bdc2-e0cae32eae5c","order_by":0,"name":"Mao Hao-Kun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mao","middleName":"","lastName":"Hao-Kun","suffix":""},{"id":503947247,"identity":"a818d91e-4650-4d43-9423-b3ef335d0107","order_by":1,"name":"Yang Bo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harbin Institute of 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rate","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7196197/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7196197/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePrevious research has aimed to precisely estimate information leakage to improve the secure key rate (SKR) and maximum transmission distance in quantum key distribution (QKD). However, existing methods repeatedly considered the information of the multi-photon pulses known to Eve before and after information reconciliation, resulting in an overestimation of the leakage amount. We propose a novel approach that considers the quantum part's effect on post-processing, providing a more accurate estimation of information reconciliation leakage to improve the SKR. Theoretical analysis shows that our method more accurately estimates the information reconciliation leakage, significantly improving the SKR at any distance as well as the maximum transmission distance. It is worth mentioning that previous studies treat information leakage of the error correction as the Shannon bound \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(Nh(e)\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, and our method can estimate it more tightly. Simulation results for decoy-BB84 and measurement-device-independent (MDI) protocols using Cascade are consistent with the theoretical analysis. The farther the transmission distance, the greater the growth rate of SKR. 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