A brief introduction of quantum cryptography for engineers

Bing Qi, Li Qian, Hoi-Kwong Lo

Published 2010-02-05, updated 2010-02-23Version 2

We present the fundamental principles behind quantum key distribution and discuss a few well-known QKD protocols. Bearing in mind that the majority of our readers are from engineering and experimental optics, we focus more on the experimental implementation of various QKD protocols rather than security analysis. Another important topic that is covered here is the study of the security of practical QKD systems.