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High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy
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Controlling an actively-quenched single photon detector with bright light.

Sebastien Sauge1, Lars Lydersen, Andrey Anisimov

  • 1School of Information and Communication Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Electrum 229, SE-16440 Kista, Sweden.

Optics Express
|November 24, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Bright light can control actively-quenched single-photon detectors, compromising quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. This attack exploits new vulnerabilities, demonstrating a general threat to QKD security using avalanche photodiodes.

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Area of Science:

  • Quantum Information Science
  • Photonics and Optical Engineering

Background:

  • Actively-quenched avalanche single-photon detectors are crucial for quantum key distribution (QKD).
  • Previous research identified vulnerabilities in passively-quenched and gated detectors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the susceptibility of actively-quenched single-photon detectors to light-based attacks.
  • To demonstrate the generality of blinding attacks on QKD systems.

Main Methods:

  • Controlled actively-quenched avalanche single-photon detectors using bright light.
  • Analyzed the detector's response to identify new blinding mechanisms.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated that actively-quenched detectors are vulnerable to the same blinding attack as other detector types.
  • Identified two novel blinding mechanisms in a commercial detector: bias voltage control malfunction and DC/DC converter overload.
  • Confirmed thermal blinding of the avalanche photodiode (APD).

Conclusions:

  • The demonstrated attack is general and can potentially compromise the security of all QKD systems utilizing APDs.
  • The identified technical loopholes necessitate a re-evaluation of QKD security proofs to include detector imperfections.