Patent attributes
According to an embodiment, a quantum-key distribution apparatus includes a quantum-key sharer, a shifter, a corrector, a privacy amplifier, and an estimator. The quantum-key sharer performs photon sharing processing and acquires a photon bit string. The shifter generates a shared bit string by performing shifting processing. The corrector generates a corrected bit string by correcting errors in the shared bit string by performing error correction processing. The privacy amplifier generates an encryption key by performing privacy amplification processing that compresses the corrected bit string. The estimator estimates an encryption-key generation rate based on an output value and a given value at execution phases of respective pieces of processing of the photon sharing processing, the shifting processing, the error correction processing, and the privacy amplification processing.
