Composably-secure data-processing in continuous variable quantum key distribution.

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution employs the quadratures of a bosonic mode to establish a secret key between two remote parties. The resulting secret-key rate depends not only on the loss and noise in the communication channel, but also on a series of data-processing steps that are needed for transforming shared correlations into a final string of secret bits. Within the general setting of composable finite-size security, we consider a coherent-state protocol, whose quantum communication is simulated and classical data is post-processed via procedures of parameter estimation, error correction and privacy amplification. Such steps are presented in detail and suitably adapted to follow recently-developed tools for composable security analysis. For this advanced approach on data-processing, we provide a Python-based environment that allows us to investigate and optimize the protocol parameters to be used in practical experimental implementations.