Digital Signal Processing for Quantum Key Distribution

This is a research visit funded by Quantum Delta NL National Growth Fund AL3 Visitors Program.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a communication method that enables two parties to share a cryptographic key and establish a secure connection. Since it provides cryptographic security based on quantum mechanical properties instead of mathematics, QKD promises unconditional security, i.e., the so-called holy grail of communication security. An important step in QKD is error reconciliation, the step in which tools from classical communication theory such as forward error correction (FEC) coding are utilized to ensure efficient and error-free sharing of a key. This step, in practice, requires combined expertise in QKD security, digital signal processing (DSP), and hardware implementation. Dr. Gültekin has been recently focusing on hardware implementation of DSP algorithms. This research visit is intended to create a research collaboration with LuxQuanta and apply his expertise to QKD application.

The main goal, following the completion of the visit, is to bring back hands-on QKD prototyping experience to the Dutch quantum environment and propagate this knowledge to fellow researchers. In the short term, this collective knowledge can facilitate the hardware-oriented efforts led by TU/e on creating a QKD testbed and a secure quantum link between Eindhoven and Helmond. These efforts are made in the context of CAT-2 of Quantum Delta NL via Action Line 1 (R&D). In the medium term, this knowledge can contribute to regional ambitions such as the creation of a European quantum communication infrastructure (EuroQCI). In the long term, the established research collaboration can create a more effective knowledge exchange mechanism between the quantum environments of the Netherlands and Spain, and strengthen the Dutch quantum ecosystem.