Amplitude-Phase Modulated CVQKD Protocol

Abstract

Here we report the performance of a discrete modulated Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution protocol based on eight and sixteen state optimal Amplitude Phase Keying constellations with pure loss quantum channel transmission. Our constellations use the same amplitudes and state probability as in an optimal four-state unidimensional constellation model and apply amplitude/phase modulation to the quadratures of coherent states. We compare the obtained results with the performance of conventional $m$-PSK and $m$-APK constellations. The results presented show that protocols that use the proposed constellations outperform the ones based on conventional constellations in both secret key rate and link distance. In special, our protocol is able to accomplish viable SKR's in low transmittance regime, $\tau<0.2$.