Quantum Key Distribution with Multi Letter Continuous Variable Alphabets

We present a new protocol for continuous variable quantum key distribution. The novelty of the protocol is a multi letter alphabet represented by coherent states of light with a fixed amplitude and variable phase. Information is encoded in the phase of a coherent state which can be chosen from a regular discrete set consisting, however, of an arbitrary number of letters. We evaluate the security of the protocol against the beam splitting attack. As a result we show the proposed protocol has advantages over the standard two letter coherent state protocol, especially in the case when losses in the communication channel are low.