Feasibility of entanglement-based QKD protocols with SPDC and quantum-dot sources.

Abstract

We theoretically analyze the feasibility of entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols-both device-independent QKD (DI-QKD) and entanglement-based BB84 (EPR-BB84)-using widely employed spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) and what we believe to be a novel semiconductor quantum-dot (QD) sources. Within a unified photodetection-theory framework, we jointly evaluate the Bell parameter, quantum bit error rate (QBER), and asymptotic Devetak-Winter secret key rate for both source types, accounting for multiphoton emission in SPDC, fine-structure splitting (FSS) in the QD, and imperfect detection including finite efficiency and dark counts. Our results demonstrate that, despite the detrimental effect of FSS, QD sources achieve sufficient Bell violation and positive secret key rates under realistic experimental conditions. In contrast, within the standard CHSH-based DI-QKD framework and the detection and binning strategies, bare SPDC sources do not yield a positive secret key rate, despite the feasibility of loophole-free Bell tests with such sources. Our findings are crucial for the practical implementation of entanglement-based QKD protocols using realistic sources and detectors.