Differential phase encoded measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Abstract: We present a measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) using single photons in a linear superposition of three orthogonal time-bin states, for generating the key. The orthogonal states correspond to three distinct paths in the delay line interferometers used by two (trusted) sources. The key information is decoded based on the measurement outcomes obtained by an untrusted third party Charles, who uses a beamsplitter to measure the phase difference between pulses traveling through different paths of the two delay lines. The proposed scheme combines the best of both differential-phase-shift (DPS) QKD and MDI-QKD. It is more robust against phase fluctuations, and also ensures protection against detector side-channel attacks. We prove unconditional security by demonstrating an equivalent protocol involving shared entanglement between the two trusted parties. We show that the secure key rate for our protocol compares well to existing protocols in the asymptotic regime. For the decoy-state variant of our protocol, we evaluate the secure key rate by using a phase-post-selection technique. Finally, we estimate the bit error rate and the phase error rate, in the finite key regime.