Open AccessHandheld free space quantum key distribution with dynamic motion compensation
Author(s) -
Hyunchae Chun,
Iris Choi,
Grahame Faulkner,
Larry Clarke,
Bryan Barber,
Glenn George,
Colin Capon,
Antti Niskanen,
Joachim Wabnig,
Dominic O’Brien,
David Bitauld
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.25.006784
Subject(s) - mobile device , computer science , quantum key distribution , key (lock) , transmission (telecommunications) , transmitter , key generation , computer security , telecommunications , quantum , cryptography , physics , channel (broadcasting) , quantum mechanics , operating system
Mobile devices have become an inseparable part of our everyday life. They are used to transmit an ever-increasing amount of sensitive health, financial and personal information. This exposes us to the growing scale and sophistication of cyber-attacks. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) can provide unconditional and future-proof data security but implementing it for handheld mobile devices comes with specific challenges. To establish security, secret keys of sufficient length need to be transmitted during the time of a handheld transaction (~1s) despite device misalignment, ambient light and user's inevitable hand movements. Transmitters and receivers should ideally be compact and low-cost, while avoiding security loopholes. Here we demonstrate the first QKD transmission from a handheld transmitter with a key-rate large enough to overcome finite key effects. Using dynamic beam-steering, reference-frame-independent encoding and fast indistinguishable pulse generation, we obtain a secret key rate above 30kb/s over a distance of 0.5m.