Analysis of a rate-adaptive reconciliation protocol and the effect of leakage on the secret key rate

Quantum key distribution performs the trick of growing a secret key in two distant places connected by a quantum channel. The main reason is so that the legitimate users can bound the information gathered by the eavesdropper. In practical systems, whether because of finite resources or external conditions, the quantum channel is subject to fluctuations. A rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol, which adapts to the changes in the communication channel, is then required to minimize the leakage of information in the classical postprocessing. We consider here the leakage of a rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol. The length of the exchanged messages is larger than that of an optimal protocol; however, we prove that the min-entropy reduction is limited. The simulation results, both in the asymptotic and in the finite-length regime, show that this protocol allows to increase the amount of a distillable secret key.