A Two-way QKD Protocol Outperforming One-way Protocols at Low QBER

Two-way quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols can provide positive secret key rates for considerably higher quantum bit error rates (QBER) than one-way protocols. However, when QBER is low, only modest key rate gains have been achieved. This is one of the major obstacles for using two-way protocols. In this paper we introduce a new two-way QKD protocol which is a step towards overcoming this shortcoming. Under the assumption that the eavesdropper can only perform individual symmetric quantum attacks, our protocol performs quantum key distribution with a secret key rate that is higher than the information theoretical bound limiting the performance of any one-way protocol. This holds true also for very low QBER values.