Performance Analysis and Optimization of the Winnow Secret Key Reconciliation Protocol

Currently, private communications in public and government sectors rely on methods of cryptographic key distribution that will likely be rendered obsolete the moment a full-scale quantum computer is realized, or efficient classical methods of factoring are discovered. There are alternative methods for distributing secret key material in a "post-quantum" era. One example of a system capable of securely distributing cryptographic key material, known as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), is secure against quantum factorization techniques as its security rests on generally accepted laws of quantum physics. QKD protocols typically include a phase called "Error Reconciliation", a clear-text classical-channel discussion between legitimate parties of a QKD protocol by which errors introduced in the quantum channel are corrected and the legitimate parties ensure they share identical key material.