Quantum relay schemes for continuous-variable quantum key distribution

Abstract

We propose several concatenated quantum relay continuous-variable quantum key distribution schemes based on the parametric amplifier (PA) and the beam splitter (BS). Instead of using only one BS in the traditional relay scheme, the proposed schemes provide two operations that involve both PA and BS, activating the beam splitting and recombining operations in turn. These schemes would benefit the system performance improvement by providing signal amplification and establishing quantum correlations. We show that the different effects of the relay schemes will cause different system performances because of the varied signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of output fields. The system's secret key rate will be increased when equipping with the PA-BS relay scheme, because the output fields of the PA are entangled with the correlated quantum noises while input fields of the BS are superimposed, subsequently leading to the quantum noise reduction of the total output fields of relay station, while the reversed BS-PA relay scheme has little advantage over the traditional counterpart that contains only one BS in relay data postprocessing because it will not cause any SNR improvement. Moreover, the reinforced PA-PA relay scheme results in a slight improvement due to the increased SNR. These quantum relay schemes can be performed through the beam splitting, the recombining operations, and the relay data postprocessing, such that it would be suitable for secret information exchange in complex networks with intermediate stations.