Security Bounds for Efficient Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution

Information-theoretical security of quantum key distribution (QKD) has been convincingly proven in recent years and remarkable experiments have shown the potential of QKD for real-world applications. Due to its unique capability of combining high key rate and security in a realistic finite-size scenario, the efficient version of the BB84 QKD protocol endowed with decoy states has been subject of intensive research. Its recent experimental implementation finally demonstrated a secure key rate beyond 1 Mb/s over a 50 km of optical fiber. However, the achieved rate holds under the restrictive assumption that the eavesdropper performs collective attacks. Here, we review the protocol and generalize its security. We exploit a map by Ahrens to rigorously upper bound the hypergeometric distribution resulting from a general eavesdropping. Despite the extended applicability of the new protocol, its key rate is only marginally smaller than its predecessor in all cases of practical interest.