An Overview on the Post-processing Procedure in Quantum Key Distribution

Based on the laws of quantum mechanics(the no-cloning theorem, the principle of quantum measurement, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and so on), quantum key distribution(QKD) allows two legitimate parties(Alice and Bob) to generate secure keys unconditionally. One-time-pad(OTP) has been proved to be unconditionally secure. By combining QKD and OTP together, we can realise unconditional secure communications. Since 1984, researchers have proposed new QKD protocols. QKD contains the quantum communication procedure and the post-processing procedure. The quantum communication procedure is mainly about a series of quantum states being transmitted by Alice and measured by Bob. The post-processing procedure contains base sifting, error estimation, key reconciliation(error correction), error verification, and privacyamplification. With the development of high-speed QKD systems, the post-processing procedure is becoming a bottleneck. Hence, high-speed and effective post-processing procedure plays an important role in high-speed QKD systems. In this paper, we give a briefly review on the principle and concrete algorithms of the post-processing procedure in quantum key distribution.

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