Impact of Imbalanced Modulation on Security of Continuous-Variable Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

Abstract

Continuous variable measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (CV-MDI-QKD) removes all known or unknown side-channel attacks on detectors. However, it is difficult to fully implement assumptions in the security demonstration model, which leads to potential security vulnerabilities inevitably existing in the practical system. In this paper, we explore the impact of imbalanced modulation at transmitters on the security of the CV-MDI-QKD system mainly using a coherent state and squeezed state under symmetric and asymmetric distances. Assuming two different modulation topologies of senders, we propose a generalized theoretical scheme and evaluate the key parameter achievable of the protocol with the mechanism of imbalanced modulation. The presented results show that imbalanced modulation can achieve a relatively nonlinearly higher secret key rate and transmission distances than the previous protocol which is the balanced modulation variance used by transmitters. The advantage of imbalanced modulation is demonstrated for the system key parameter estimation using numerical simulation under different situations. In addition, the consequences indicate the importance of imbalanced modulation on the performance of CV-MDI-QKD protocol and provide a theoretical framework for experimental implementation as well as the optimal modulated mode.