Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution protocol with phase post-selection

Abstract

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol can remove all the loopholes of the detection devices and, thus, has attracted much attention. Based on the technique of single-photon interference, we propose a modified MDI-QKD protocol with phase post-selection. We prove the security of the announcement of the private phases in the X basis and show how to apply the phase post-selection method to the double-scanning four-intensity MDI-QKD protocol. The numerical results show that the phase post-selection method can significantly improve the key rates at all distances. In the double-scanning method, two parameters need to be scanned in the calculation of the final key rate, and the global parameter optimization is pretty time-consuming. We propose an accelerated method that can greatly reduce the running time of the global parameter optimization program. This makes the method practically useful in an unstable channel.