The Influence of Pulsed Electromagnetic Action on a Quantum Key Distribution

An electric-discharge electromagnetic-field impact results on the operation of a quantum communication installation using phase encoding of information are considered. When simulating close lightning discharges using a pulse voltage generator, a decrease in a sifted key’s generation rate and an increase in quantum bit errors were recorded, but the pulse effect was significantly shorter than the frequency of a quantum key’s formation and could not have a significant effect on the line’s operation. In addition, the heating of the quantum key distribution units as a result of long-term operation can contribute to the change in the quantum communication’s measured parameters.