The SECOQC quantum key distribution network in Vienna

M. Peev (1) , C. Pacher (1) , Romain Alleaume (2, 3) , C. Barreiro (4) , J. Bouda (5) , W. Boxleitner (1) , Thierry Debuisschert (6) , Eleni Diamanti (2, 3, 7) , M. Dianati (8) , J.F. Dynes (9) , S. Fasel (4) , Simon Fossier (6, 7) , M. Fürst (10) , J.D. Gautier (4) , O. Gay (11) , Nicolas Gisin (4) , Philippe Grangier (7) , A. Happe (1) , Y. Hasani (1) , M. Hentschel (12) , H. Hübel (13) , G. Humer (1) , T. Länger (1) , M. Legré (11) , R. Lieger (1) , Jérôme Lodewyck (6, 7, 14) , T. Lorünser (1) , Norbert Lutkenhaus (15, 16) , A. Marhold (17) , T. Matyus (1) , O. Maurhart (1) , L. Monat (11) , S. Nauerth (10) , J.B. Page (11) , A. Poppe (1) , E. Querasser (1) , G. Ribordy (11) , S. Robyr (11) , L. Salvail (18) , A.W. Sharpe (9) , A.J. Shields (9) , D. Stucki (4) , M. Suda (1) , C. Tamas (1) , T. Themel (1) , R.T. Thew (4) , Y. Thoma (4) , A. Treiber (13) , P. Trinkler (11) , Rosa Tualle-Brouri (7) , F. Vannel (4) , N. Walenta (4) , H. Weier (10) , H. Weinfurter (10, 19) , I. Wimberger (20) , Z.L. Yuan (9) , H. Zbinden (4) , A. Zeilinger (13, 21)

1 AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology [Vienna]
2 LTCI - Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l'Information
3 Télécom ParisTech
4 GAP - Group of Applied Physics [Geneva]
5 FI / MUNI - Faculty of Informatics [Brno]
6 Thales Research and Technology [Palaiseau]
7 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique quantique
8 UNIS - University of Surrey
9 Toshiba Research Europe Ltd
10 Department für Physik
11 IDQ - ID Quantique
12 Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information
13 Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information
14 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
15 IQC - Institute for Quantum Computing [Waterloo]
16 Institute of Theoretical Physics
17 Bearingpoint INFONOVA GmbH
18 DIRO - Département d'Informatique et de Recherche Opérationnelle [Montreal]
19 MPQ - Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
20 Siemens AG Österreich
21 IQOQI - Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information [Innsbruck]

The paper presents the architecture and functionality of the principal networking agent—the SECOQC node module, which enables the authentic classical communication required for key distillation, manages the generated key material, determines a communication path between any destinations in the network, and realizes end-to-end secure transport of key material between these destinations. The paper also illustrates the operation of the network in a number of typical exploitation regimes and gives an initial estimate of the network transmission capacity, defined as the maximum amount of key that can be exchanged, or alternatively the amount of information that can be transmitted with information theoretic security, between two arbitrary nodes.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Quantum Physics [quant-ph]

M. Peev, C. Pacher, Romain Alleaume, C. Barreiro, J. Bouda, et al.. The SECOQC quantum key distribution network in Vienna. New Journal of Physics, 2009, 11, pp.075001. ⟨10.1088/1367-2630/11/7/075001⟩. ⟨hal-00559693⟩