Spin-orbit hybrid entanglement quantum key distribution scheme

Abstract

We propose a novel quantum key distribution scheme by using the SAM-OAM hybrid entangled state as the physical resource. To obtain this state, the polarization entangled photon pairs are created by the spontaneous parametric down conversion process, and then, the q-plate acts as a SAM-to-OAM transverter to transform the polarization entangled pairs into the hybrid entangled pattern, which opens the possibility to exploit the features of the higher-dimensional space of OAM state to encode information. In the manipulation and encoding process, Alice performs the SAM measurement by modulating the polarization state |θ〉π on one photon, whereas Bob modulates the OAM sector state |χ〉 l on the other photon to encode his key elements using the designed holograms which is implemented by the computer-controlled SLM. With coincidence measurement, Alice could extract the key information. It is showed that N-based keys can be encoded with each pair of entangled photon, and this scheme is robust against Eve’s individual attack. Also, the MUBs are not used. Alice and Bob do not need the classical communication for the key recovery.