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The lists of bits processed in quantum key distribution are necessarily of finite length. The need for finite-key unconditional security bounds was recognized long ago, but the theoretical tools have become available only very recently. We provide finite-key unconditional security bounds for two practical implementations of the Bennett–Brassard 1984 coding: prepare-and-measure implementations without decoy states and entanglement-based implementations. A finite-key bound for prepare-and-measure implementations with decoy states is also derived under a simplified treatment of the statistical fluctuations. The presentation is tailored to allow direct application of the bounds in experiments. Finally, the bounds are also evaluated on a priori reasonable expected values of the observed parameters.
A 2009 study studied this question.