Finite Size Analysis of Decoy-State BB84 with Advantage Distillation

Abstract

Advantage Distillation (AD) is a classical post-processing technique that enhances Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols by increasing the maximum acceptable Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER) and thus extending the distance at which QKD links can be securely established. AD operates by post-selecting blocks of bits and extracting fewer high-fidelity bits, exhibiting a reduced QBER and thus lowering the amount of information that has to be disclosed during the information reconciliation step. In this work we present the first comprehensive finite key-size analysis of decoy-state BB84 enhanced via AD post-processing. We demonstrate that through the use of AD the maximum acceptable QBER increases from around 9.5% to around 17.3% for realistic key sizes. This result shows that substantial performance enhancements can be achieved in scenarios which are constrained by the maximum tolerable QBER via improvements of the post-processing method alone.