Enhanced Analysis for the Decoy-State Method

Abstract: Quantum key distribution is a cornerstone of quantum cryptography, enabling secure communication through the principles of quantum mechanics. In reality, most practical implementations rely on the decoy-state method to ensure security against photon-number-splitting attacks. A significant challenge in realistic quantum cryptosystems arises from statistical fluctuations with finite data sizes, which complicate the key-rate estimation due to the nonlinear dependence on the phase error rate. In this study, we first revisit and improve the key rate bound for the decoy-state method. We then propose an enhanced framework for statistical fluctuation analysis. By employing our fluctuation analysis on the improved bound, we demonstrate enhancement in key generation rates through numerical simulations with typical experimental parameters. Furthermore, our approach to fluctuation analysis is not only applicable in quantum cryptography but can also be adapted to other quantum information processing tasks, particularly when the objective and experimental variables exhibit a linear relationship.