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Abstract

Secret communication over public channels is one of the central pillars of a
modern information society. Using quantum key distribution (QKD) this is
achieved without relying on the hardness of mathematical problems which might
be compromised by improved algorithms or by future quantum computers.
State-of-the-art QKD requires composable security against coherent attacks for
a finite number of samples. Here, we present the first implementation of QKD
satisfying this requirement and additionally achieving security which is
independent of any possible flaws in the implementation of the receiver. By
distributing strongly Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entangled continuous variable
(CV) light in a table-top arrangement, we generated secret keys using a highly
efficient error reconciliation algorithm. Since CV encoding is compatible with
conventional optical communication technology, we consider our work to be a
major promotion for commercialized QKD providing composable security against
the most general channel attacks.