A Look at a Three State Quantum Key Distribution Protocol.
Jamie Batuwantudawe, Institute for Quantum Computing
Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols allow two parties, Alice and
Bob, to establish secure keys. The most well-known protocol is BB84,
using four distinct states. Recently, Phoenix et al. proposed a three
state protocol. We explain the protocol and discuss its security
proof. The three state protocol also has an interesting structure
that allows for errors estimation from the inconclusive results
(ie. where Alice and Bob choose different bases). This eliminates the
need for sampling, potentially useful when qubits are limited. We
discuss the effectiveness of this approach compared to BB84 for the
case where a good error estimate is required.
