Device calibration impacts security of quantum key distribution

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 107; no. 11; p. 110501
• Main Authors: Jain, Nitin, Wittmann, Christoffer, Lydersen, Lars, Wiechers, Carlos, Elser, Dominique, Marquardt, Christoph, Makarov, Vadim, Leuchs, Gerd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 09.09.2011

Characterizing the physical channel and calibrating the cryptosystem hardware are prerequisites for establishing a quantum channel for quantum key distribution (QKD). Moreover, an inappropriately implemented calibration routine can open a fatal security loophole. We propose and experimentally demons...