Evaluation of adaptive reconciliation protocols for CV-QKD using systematic polar codes

Quantum key distribution is a secure cryptographic technology that enables two authenticated parties to share secret keys. Information reconciliation is an essential step in continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocols, which affects both the complexity and performance of the system. This paper reviews adaptive reconciliation protocols and also proposes a new efficient scheme using systematic polar codes. The proposed scheme utilizes adaptive polar codes, where the code rates are determined by the channel condition. Additionally, a compact function is presented to set the optimum code rate for a given channel condition. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly increase reconciliation efficiency and reduce the overall computational complexity by reducing the average number of retransmissions, without significant reduction in effective secret key length.