Quantum cryptography could well be the first application of quantum mechanics at the individual quanta level. The very fast progress in both theory and experiments over the recent years are reviewed, with emphasis on open questions and technological issues.

Quantum Cryptography

Preface. About the Editors. Part I: Quantum Computing. 1. Quantum computing with qubits S.L. Braunstein, A.K. Pati. 2. Quantum computation over continuous variables S. Lloyd, S.L. Braunstein. 3. Error correction for continuous quantum variables S.L. Braunstein. 4. Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm for continuous variables A.K. Pati, S.L. Braunstein. 5. Hybrid quantum computing S. Lloyd. 6. Efficient classical simulation of continuous variable quantum information processes S.D. Bartlett, B.C. Sanders, S.L. Braunstein, K. Nemoto. Part II: Quantum Entanglement. 7. Introduction to entanglement-based protocols S.L. Braunstein, A.K. Pati. 8. Teleportation of continuous uantum variables S.L. Braunstein, H.J. Kimble. 9. Experimental realization of continuous variable teleportation A. Furusawa, H.J. Kimble. 10. Dense coding for continuous variables S.L. Braunstein, H.J. Kimble. 11. Multipartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradoxes for continuous variables S. Massar, S. Pironio. 12. Multipartite entanglement for continuous variables P. van Loock, S.L. Braunstein. 13. Inseparability criterion for continuous variable systems Lu-Ming Duan, G. Giedke, J.I. Cirac, P. Zoller. 14. Separability criterion for Gaussian states R. Simon. 15. Distillability and entanglement purification for Gaussian states G. Giedke, Lu-Ming Duan, J.I. Cirac, P. Zoller. 16. Entanglement purification via entanglement swapping S. Parke, S. Bose, M.B. Plenio. 17. Bound entanglement for continuous variables is a rare phenomenon P. Horodecki, J.I. Cirac, M. Lewenstein. Part III: Continuous Variable Optical-Atomic Interfacing. 18. Atomic continuous variable processing and light-atoms quantum interface A. Kuzmich, E.S. Polzik. Part IV: Limits on Quantum Information and Cryptography. 19. Limitations on discrete quantum information and cryptography S.L. Braunstein, A.K. Pati. 20. Quantum cloning with continuous variables N.J. Cerf. 21. Quantum key distribution with continuous variables in optics T.C. Ralph. 22. Secure quantum key distribution using squeezed states D. Gottesman, J. Preskill. 23. Experimental demonstration of dense coding and quantum cryptography with continuous variables Kunchi Peng, Qing Pan, Jing Zhang, Changde Xie. 24. Quantum solitons in optical fibres: basic requisites for experimental quantum communication G. Leuchs, Ch. Silberhorn, E. Konig, P.K. Lam, A. Sizmann, N. Korolkova. Index.

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Quantum Information with Continuous Variables

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is the first quantum information task to reach the level of mature technology, already fit for commercialization. It aims at the creation of a secret key between authorized partners connected by a quantum channel and a classical authenticated channel. The security of the key can in principle be guaranteed without putting any restriction on an eavesdropper's power. This article provides a concise up-to-date review of QKD, biased toward the practical side. Essential theoretical tools that have been developed to assess the security of the main experimental platforms are presented (discrete-variable, continuous-variable, and distributed-phase-reference protocols).

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The security of practical quantum key distribution

The science of quantum information has arisen over the last two decades centered on the manipulation of individual quanta of information, known as quantum bits or qubits. Quantum computers, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation are among the most celebrated ideas that have emerged from this new field. It was realized later on that using continuous-variable quantum information carriers, instead of qubits, constitutes an extremely powerful alternative approach to quantum information processing. This review focuses on continuous-variable quantum information processes that rely on any combination of Gaussian states, Gaussian operations, and Gaussian measurements. Interestingly, such a restriction to the Gaussian realm comes with various benefits, since on the theoretical side, simple analytical tools are available and, on the experimental side, optical components effecting Gaussian processes are readily available in the laboratory. Yet, Gaussian quantum information processing opens the way to a wide variety of tasks and applications, including quantum communication, quantum cryptography, quantum computation, quantum teleportation, and quantum state and channel discrimination. This review reports on the state of the art in this field, ranging from the basic theoretical tools and landmark experimental realizations to the most recent successful developments.

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Gaussian quantum information

Much has been written about theory and practice in the law, and the tension between practitioners and theorists. Judges do not cite theoretical articles often; they rarely "apply" theories to particular cases. These arguments are not revisited. Instead the Essay explores the working and interaction of theory and practice, practitioners and theorists. The Essay starts with a story about solving a legal issue using our intellectual tools - theory, practice, and their progenies: experience and "gut." Next the Essay elaborates on the nature of theory, practice, experience and "gut." The third part of the Essay discusses theories that are helpful to practitioners and those that are less helpful. The Essay concludes that practitioners theorize, and theorists practice. They use these intellectual tools differently because the goals and orientations of theorists and practitioners, and the constraints under which they act, differ. Theory, practice, experience and "gut" help us think, remember, decide and create. They complement each other like the two sides of the same coin: distinct but inseparable.

Of Theory and Practice

The use of linearly independent signal states in realistic implementations of quantum key distribution (QKD) enables an eavesdropper to perform unambiguous state discrimination. We explore quantitatively the limits for secure QKD imposed by this fact taking into account that the receiver can monitor, to some extent the photon-number statistics of the signals even with todays standard detection schemes. We compare our attack to the beam-splitting attack and show that security against the beam-splitting attack does not necessarily imply security against the attack considered here.

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Unambiguous state discrimination in quantum cryptography with weak coherent states

A secure quantum identification system combining a classical identification procedure and quantum key distribution is proposed. Each identification sequence is always used just once and sequences are ``refueled'' from a shared provably secret key transferred through the quantum channel. Two identification protocols are devised. The first protocol can be applied when legitimate users have an unjammable public channel at their disposal. The deception probability is derived for the case of a noisy quantum channel. The second protocol employs unconditionally secure authentication of information sent over the public channel, and thus can be applied even in the case when an adversary is allowed to modify public communications. An experimental realization of a quantum identification system is described.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9809024.pdf

Quantum identification system

Elementary review article on quantum cryptography.

Chapter 5 - Quantum cryptography

We propose a protocol for conditional suppression of losses in direct quantum state transmission over a lossy quantum channel. The method works by noiselessly attenuating the input state prior to transmission through a lossy channel followed by noiseless amplification of the output state. The procedure does not add any noise; hence, it keeps quantum coherence. We experimentally demonstrate it in the subspace spanned by vacuum and single-photon states, and consider its general applicability.

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Miloslav Dušek

Papers

The security of practical quantum key distribution

Unambiguous state discrimination in quantum cryptography with weak coherent states

Quantum identification system

Chapter 5 - Quantum cryptography

Noiseless loss suppression in quantum optical communication.