Measurement-free mediated semi-quantum key distribution protocol based on single-particle states

Abstract

A novel measurement-free mediated semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol is proposed based on single-particle states. It enables two classical users to establish a secret key with the assistance of a third party. This protocol simplifies the third party’s role to solely generating qubits in X-basis and conducting Bell measurements. A distinctive feature of this protocol is the efficient grouping and reordering of qubits by the classical users with a minimum of three delay lines. Security analyses demonstrate that the protocol can withstand various attack strategies, including collective attack, measurement attack, fake state attack, and modification attack. The noise tolerance is given by deriving a lower bound of the protocol’s key rate in the asymptotic scenario. Simulations on the IBM Quantum Experience platform are conducted to illustrate the feasibility of this protocol. Compared with existing MSQKD protocols, the proposed protocol consumes fewer quantum resources and achieves a qubit efficiency of 1/8.

Mode-pairing quantum key distribution based on wavelength division multiplexing in multi-user networks

“…where n is the number of the channel and R is the key rate in equation (2). In asymmetric QKD protocols, the pulse intensities μ A(B) transmitted by both communication parties and the channel transmittance η A(B) need to be considered individually.…”

“…The core requirement lies in continuously overcoming real-world limitations to achieve longer communication distances and enhanced security for practical implementations of QKD. The semi-quantum approach is one of the promising options, relaxing the requirements for quantum capabilities from the communicating parties in QKD [2]. It also inspires novel applications in fields such as quantum private comparison (QPC) [3,4].…”

Multi-party semi-quantum secret sharing protocol based on measure-flip and reflect operations

“…Semi-quantum protocols reduce the dependency of users on quantum resources, thus attracting widespread attention from researchers. Current research in the field of semi-quantum cryptography includes semiquantum key distribution [20][21][22][23][24][25], semi-quantum secure direct communication [26][27][28][29], semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], semi-quantum secure multi-party computation [40][41][42], and more. Readers can refer to [43] for a detailed overview of semi-quantum cryptography.…”