A continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol based on squeezed states and heterodyne detection is introduced and shown to attain higher secret key rates over a noisy line than any other one-way Gaussian protocol. This increased resistance to channel noise can be understood as resulting from purposely adding noise to the signal that is converted into the secret key. This notion of noise-enhanced tolerance to noise also provides a better physical insight into the poorly understood discrepancies between the previously defined families of Gaussian protocols.
We use the noisy entanglement-assisted classical capacity formula [arXiv:1609.08592] to create a coherent-attack security framework for Gaussian two-way quantum key distribution protocols in the asymptotic region.
The "Ping-Pong" (PP) protocol is a two-way quantum key protocol based on entanglement. In this protocol, Bob prepares one maximally entangled pair of qubits, and sends one qubit to Alice. Then, Alice performs some necessary operations on this qubit and sends it back to Bob. Although this protocol was proposed in 2002, its security in the noisy and lossy channel has not been proven. In this report, we add a simple and experimentally feasible modification to the original PP protocol, and prove the security of this modified PP protocol against collective attacks when the noisy and lossy channel i…
We present simple protocols for oblivious transfer and password-based identification which are secure against general attacks in the noisy-quantum-storage model as defined in [KWW09]. We argue that a technical tool from [KWW09] suffices to prove security of the known protocols. Whereas the more involved protocol for oblivious transfer from [KWW09] requires less noise in storage to achieve security, our "canonical" protocols have the advantage of being simpler to implement and the security error is easier control. Therefore, our protocols yield higher OT-rates for many realistic noise parameter…
We show an eavesdropping scheme on Bostr\UNICODE{0xf6}m-Felbinger communication protocol (called ping-pong protocol) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 187902 (2002)] in an ideal quantum channel. A measurement attack can be perfectly used to eavesdrop Alice's information instead of a most general quantum operation attack. In a noisy quantum channel, the direct communication is forbidden. We present a quantum key distribution protocol based on the ping-pong protocol, which can be used in a low noisy quantum channel. And we give a weak upper bound on the bit-error ratio that the detection probability $d$ sho…
We present the first protocol for oblivious transfer that can be implemented with an optical continuous-variable system, and prove its security in the noisy-storage model. This model allows security to be achieved by sending more quantum signals than an attacker can reliably store at one specific point during the protocol. Concretely, we determine how many signals need to be sent in order to achieve security by establishing a trade-off between quantum uncertainty generated in the protocol and the classical capacity of the memory channel. As our main technical tool, we study and derive new unce…
We present an accreditation protocol for the outputs of noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. By testing entire circuits rather than individual gates, our accreditation protocol can provide an upper-bound on the variation distance between noisy and noiseless probability distribution of the outputs of the target circuit of interest. Our accreditation protocol requires implementation of quantum circuits no larger than the target circuit, therefore it is practical in the near term and scalable in the long term. Inspired by trap-based protocols for the verification of quantum computations, our…
We propose a hybrid quantum-classical atomic clock protocol where the interrogation of an ensemble of uncorrelated atoms in a spin-coherent state is used to feedback one (or more) spin-squeezed atomic ensembles toward their optimal phase sensitivity point. This protocol overcomes the stability of a single Ramsey clock and it reaches a Heisenberg-limited stability while avoiding non-destructive measurements. Analytical predictions are compared with numerical simulations of clocks operations including correlated 1/f local oscillator noise.
Cryptographic protocols are the backbone of our information society. This includes two-party protocols which offer protection against distrustful players. Such protocols can be built from a basic primitive called oblivious transfer. We present and experimentally demonstrate here the first quantum protocol for oblivious transfer for optical continuous-variable systems, and prove its security in the noisy-storage model. This model allows to establish security by sending more quantum signals than an attacker can reliably store during the protocol. The security proof is based on new uncertainty re…
Quantum Private Comparison (QPC) allows us to protect private information during its comparison. In the past various three-party quantum protocols have been proposed that claim to work well under noisy conditions. Here we tackle the problem of QPC under noise. We analyze the EPR-based protocol under depolarizing noise, bit flip and phase flip noise. We show how noise affects the robustness of the EPR-based protocol. We then present a straightforward protocol based on CSS codes to perform QPC which is robust against noise and secure under general attacks.
We prove the unconditional security of a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol on a noisy channel against the most general attack allowed by quantum physics. We use the fact that in a previous paper we have reduced the proof of the unconditionally security of this QKD protocol to a proof that a corresponding Quantum String Oblivious Transfer (String-QOT) protocol would be unconditionally secure against Bob if implemented on top of an unconditionally secure bit commitment scheme. We prove a lemma that extends a security proof given by Yao for a (one bit) QOT protocol to this String-QOT protoc…
When the 4-state or the 6-state protocol of quantum cryptography is carried out on a noisy (i.e. realistic) quantum channel, then the raw key has to be processed to reduce the information of an adversary Eve down to an arbitrarily low value, providing Alice and Bob with a secret key. In principle, quantum algorithms as well as classical algorithms can be used for this processing. A natural question is: up to which error rate on the raw key is a secret-key agreement at all possible? Under the assumption of incoherent eavesdropping, we find that the quantum and classical limits are precisely the…
The noisy-storage model allows the implementation of secure two-party protocols under the sole assumption that no large-scale reliable quantum storage is available to the cheating party. No quantum storage is thereby required for the honest parties. Examples of such protocols include bit commitment, oblivious transfer and secure identification. Here, we provide a guideline for the practical implementation of such protocols. In particular, we analyze security in a practical setting where the honest parties themselves are unable to perform perfect operations and need to deal with practical probl…
In this work, a novel protocol is proposed for bidirectional controlled quantum teleportation (BCQT) in which a quantum channel is used with the eight-qubit entangled state. Using the protocol, two users can teleport an arbitrary entangled state and a pure two-qubit state (QBS) to each other simultaneously under the permission of a third party in the role of controller. This protocol is based on the controlled-not operation, appropriate single-qubit (SIQ) UOs and SIQ measurements in the Z and X-basis. Reduction of the predictability of the controller's qubit (QB) by the eavesdropper and also, …
Noise is the main obstacle for the realization of fault tolerant quantum information processing and secure communication over long distances. In this work, we propose a communication protocol relying on simple linear optics that optimally protects quantum states from non-Markovian or corre- lated noise. We implement the protocol experimentally and demonstrate the near ideal protection of coherent and entangled states in an extremely noisy channel. Since all real-life channels are exhibit- ing pronounced non-Markovian behavior, the proposed protocol will have immediate implications in improving…
Protocol for Purifying Noisy Preparation and Measurements of Qubits
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)（韩国科学技术院）；Aalborg University（奥尔堡大学）；Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften（瓦尔特·迈斯纳研究所，巴伐利亚科学院）
Experimental Simulation of Two Pulses and Three Pulses Coherent One Way Quantum Key Distribution Protocol in Noisy/Noiseless and Wired/Wireless Environment
We present a protocol in which two or more parties can share multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels. The protocol is based on the entanglement purification presented by Shor and Preskill [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 441 (2000)] and the quantum teleportation via an isotropic state. We show that a nearly perfect purification implies a nearly perfect sharing of multipartite entanglement between two parties so that the protocol can assure a faithful sharing of multipartite entanglement with Shor and Preskill's proof on the entanglement purification.
The effect of noise on various protocols of secure quantum communication has been studied. Specifically, we have investigated the effect of amplitude damping, phase damping, squeezed generalized amplitude damping, Pauli type as well as various collective noise models on the protocols of quantum key distribution, quantum key agreement,quantum secure direct quantum communication and quantum dialogue. From each type of protocol of secure quantum communication, we have chosen two protocols for our comparative study; one based on single qubit states and the other one on entangled states. The compar…
We consider the task of anonymously transmitting a quantum message in a network. We present a protocol that accomplishes this task using the W state and we analyze its performance in a quantum network where some form of noise is present. We then compare the performance of our protocol with some of the existing protocols developed for the task of anonymous transmission. We show that, in many regimes, our protocol tolerates more noise and achieves higher fidelities of the transmitted quantum message than the other ones. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our protocol tolerates one non-responsive n…
We provide a simple security proof for prepare & measure quantum key distribution protocols employing noisy processing and one-way postprocessing of the key. This is achieved by showing that the security of such a protocol is equivalent to that of an associated key distribution protocol in which, instead of the usual maximally-entangled states, a more general {\em private state} is distilled. Besides a more general target state, the usual entanglement distillation tools are employed (in particular, Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS)-like codes), with the crucial difference that noisy processing allo…
Practical Fidelity Estimation for Noisy Quantum Devices Using Direct and Survival-Probability-Based Protocols
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali（印度科学教育研究学院莫哈利分校）；Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学）；Leibniz Universität Hannover（汉诺威莱布尼茨大学）；VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland（芬兰国家技术研究中心）
Fundamental primitives such as bit commitment and oblivious transfer serve as building blocks for many other two-party protocols. Hence, the secure implementation of such primitives are important in modern cryptography. In this work, we present a bit commitment protocol which is secure as long as the attacker's quantum memory device is imperfect. The latter assumption is known as the noisy-storage model. We experimentally executed this protocol by performing measurements on polarization-entangled photon pairs. Our work includes a full security analysis, accounting for all experimental error ra…
We present a protocol to perform self-stabilizing measurements on noisy qubits. We employ rapid purification in a rotating frame whose frequency is estimated and periodically updated via a Bayesian estimation scheme. The Bayesian estimation protocol employs the continuous measurement record to improve the estimate, which in turn purifies the qubit more. This procedure stabilizes the qubit. Such an adaptive measurement scheme serves the purpose of purifying the state, while minimally interfering with the phase estimation.
We establish the optimal quantum teleportation protocol for the realistic scenario when both input state and quantum channel are afflicted by noise. In taking these effects into account higher fidelities are achieved. The optimality of the proposed protocol prevails even when restricted to a reduced set of generically available operations.
The task of preserving entanglement against noises is of crucial importance for both quantum communication and quantum information transfer. To this aim, quantum error correction (QEC) codes may be employed to compensate, at least partially, the detriments induced by environmental noise that can be modelled as a bit-flip or a phase-flip error channel. In this paper we investigate the effects of the simple three-qubit QEC codes to restore entanglement and nonlocality in a two-qubit system and consider two practical applications: superdense coding and quantum teleportation. Though the considered…
We consider a variation of the well-studied quantum state redistribution task, in which the starting state is known only to the receiver Bob and not to the sender Alice. We refer to this as quantum state redistribution with a one-sided promise. In addition, we consider communication from Alice to Bob over a noisy channel $\mathcal{N}$, instead of the noiseless channel, as is usually considered in state redistribution. We take a natural approach towards the solution of this problem where we "embed" the promise as part of the state and then invoke known protocols for quantum state redistribution…
We present a formal quantum mechanical analysis of the communication protocol of Prevedel {\it et al.}\ [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{106}, 110505 (2011)], in which entanglement shared by sender and receiver is used to enhance, beyond that achievable via the optimal classical strategy, the probability of successful transmission of a bit through a particular noisy classical channel ${\cal N}$. We provide a full analysis of this protocol when the shared entanglement resides in a two-qubit system. Our analysis shows the measurement choices specified by the protocol yield the maximum possible enhancem…
Kak's three-stage protocol for quantum key distribution is revisited with special focus on its hitherto unknown strengths and weaknesses. It is shown that this protocol can be used for secure direct quantum communication. Further, the implementability of this protocol in the realistic situation is analyzed by considering various Markovian noise models. It is found that the Kak's protocol and its variants in their original form can be implemented only in a restricted class of noisy channels, where the protocols can be transformed to corresponding protocols based on logical qubits in decoherence…
In a realistic situation, the secret sharing of classical or quantum information will involve the transmission of this information through noisy channels. We consider a three qubit pure state. This state becomes a mixed-state when the qubits are distributed over noisy channels. We focus on a specific noisy channel, the phase-damping channel. We propose a protocol for secret sharing of classical information with this and related noisy channels. This protocol can also be thought of as cooperative superdense coding. We also discuss other noisy channels to examine the possibility of secret sharing…
Private comparison is a primitive for many cryptographic tasks, and recently several schemes for the quantum private comparison (QPC) have been proposed, where two users can compare the equality of their secrets with the help of a semi-honest third party (TP) without knowing each other's secret and without disclosing the same to the TP. In the exisiting schemes, secrecy is obtained by using conjugate coding, and considering all participants as quantum users who can perform measurement(s) and/or create states in basis other than computational basis. In contrast, here we propose two new protocol…
Recently, Yang et al. (Quantum Inf Process 18, 74, 2019) proposed a two-party quantum key agreement protocol over a collective noisy channel. They claimed that their quantum key agreement protocol can ensure both of the participants have equal influence on the final shared key. However, this study shows that the participant who announces the permutation operation can manipulate the final shared key by himself/herself without being detected by the other. To avoid this loophole, an improvement is proposed here.
In this paper we discuss a quantum multi-tasking protocol for preparation of known one-qubit and two-qubit states respectively in two different locations. The ideal remote state preparation protocol is discussed in the first place in which a five-qubit entangled state is utilized. The design for the preparation of such entanglement is also presented and run on IBM quantum composer platform. The effects of three types of noises on the protocol are discussed and in all these cases the reduced fidelities of the process are calculated. The variations of these fidelities with respect to different p…
We propose a wide class of distillation schemes for multi-partite entangled states that are CSS-states. Our proposal provides not only superior efficiency, but also new insights on the connection between CSS-states and bipartite graph states. We then apply our distillation schemes to the tri-partite case for three cryptographic tasks--namely, (a) conference key agreement, (b) quantum sharing of classical secrets and (c) third-man cryptography. Moreover, we construct ``prepare-and-measure'' protocols for the above three cryptographic tasks which can be implemented with the generation of only a …
Security of a continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol based on noisy coherent states and channel is analyzed. Assuming the noise of coherent states is induced by Fred, a neutral party relative to others, we prove that the prepare and measurement scheme and entanglement-based scheme are equivalent. Then, we show that this protocol is secure against Gaussian collective attacks even if the channel is lossy and noisy, and further, a lower bound to the secure key rate is derived.
One of the simplest security proofs of quantum key distribution is based on the so-called complementarity scenario, which involves the complementarity control of an actual protocol and a virtual protocol [M. Koashi, e-print arXiv:0704.3661 (2007)]. The existing virtual protocol has a limitation in classical postprocessing, i.e., the syndrome for the error-correction step has to be encrypted. In this paper, we remove this limitation by constructing a quantum circuit for the virtual protocol. Moreover, our circuit with a shield system gives an intuitive proof of why adding noise to the sifted ke…
A beam emitted by a displaced thermal source, incident on a beam splitter, is used as the source in a central broadcast quantum key distribution protocol. These displaced thermal states have parallels to signals produced through phase-shift keying, already commonly used in a variety of microwave-based communications equipment. Here, we analyse a thermal state quantum key distribution protocol for which there is no dependency on displacement. Our analysis suggests the ability to carry out QKD using widely available broadcasting equipment. We also consider the effects of the introduction of loss…
We consider an arbitrary qubit channel depending on a single parameter, which is to be estimated by a physical process. Using the quantum Fisher information per channel invocation to quantify the estimation accuracy, we consider various estimation protocols when the available initial states are mixed with very low purity. We compare a protocol using a single channel invocation on one out of $n$ qubits prepared in a particular correlated input state to the optimal protocol using uncorrelated input states, with the same initial state purity. We show that, to lowest order in initial-state purity,…
We consider estimating the parameter associated with the qubit depolarizing channel when the available initial states that might be employed are mixed. We use quantum Fisher information as a measure of the accuracy of estimation to compare protocols which use collections of qubits in product states to one in which the qubits are in a correlated state. We show that, for certain parameter values and initial states, the correlated state protocol can yield a greater accuracy per channel invocation than the product state protocols. We show that, for some parameters and initial states, using more th…
Quantum information processing exploits all the features quantum mechanics offers. Among them there is the possibility to induce nonlinear maps on a quantum system by involving two or more identical copies of the given system in the same state. Such maps play a central role in distillation protocols used for quantum key distribution. We determine that such protocols may exhibit sensitive, quasi-chaotic evolution not only for pure initial states but also for mixed states, i.e. the complex dynamical behavior is not destroyed by small initial uncertainty. We show that the appearance of sensitive,…
Under rather general assumptions about the properties of a noisy quantum channel, a first quantum protocol is proposed which allows to implement the secret bit commitment with the probability arbitrarily close to unity.
Many quantum mechanical experiments can be viewed as multi-round interactive protocols between known quantum circuits and an unknown quantum process. Fully quantum "coherent" access to the unknown process is known to provide an advantage in many discrimination tasks compared to when only incoherent access is permitted, but it is unclear if this advantage persists when the process is noisy. Here, we show that a quantum advantage can be maintained when distinguishing between two noisy single qubit rotation channels. Numerical and analytical calculations reveal a distinct transition between optim…
We report experimental results on the action of selected local environments on the fidelity of the quantum teleportation protocol, taking into account non-ideal, realistic entangled resources. Different working conditions are theoretically identified, where a noisy protocol can be made almost insensitive to further addition of noise. We put to test these conditions on a photonic implementation of the quantum teleportation algorithm, where two polarization entangled qubits act as the entangled resource and a path qubit on Alice encodes the state to be teleported. Bob's path qubit is used to imp…
It is shown that a realistic, controlled bidirectional remote state preparation is possible using a large class of entangled quantum states having a particular structure. Existing protocols of probabilistic, deterministic and joint remote state preparation are generalized to obtain the corresponding protocols of controlled bidirectional remote state preparation (CBRSP). A general way of incorporating the effects of two well known noise processes, the amplitude-damping and phase-damping noise, on the probabilistic CBRSP process is studied in detail by considering that noise only affects the tra…
It is the first scheme which allows the detection apparatus to achieve both the photon number of arriving signals and quantum bit error rate of the multiphoton pulses precisely. We show that the upper bound of the fraction of the tagged multiphoton pulses counts is $μ$, which is independent of the channel loss and the intensity of the decoy source. Such upper bound is $inherent$ and cannot be reduced any longer as long as the weak coherent scouces and high lossy channel are used. We show that our scheme can be implemented even if the channel loss is very high. A stronger intensity of the pulse…
Error mitigation is one of the key challenges in realising the full potential of quantum cryptographic protocols. Consequently, there is a lot of interest in adapting techniques from quantum error correction (QEC) to improve the robustness of quantum cryptographic protocols. In this work, we benchmark the performance of different QKD protocols on noisy quantum devices, with and without error correction. We obtain the secure key rates of BB84, B92 and BBM92 QKD protocols over a quantum channel that is subject to amplitude-damping noise. We demonstrate, theoretically and via implementations on t…
We employ the technique of weak measurement in order to enable preservation of teleportation fidelity for two-qubit noisy channels. We consider one or both qubits of a maximally entangled state to undergo amplitude damping, and show that the application of weak measurement and a subsequent reverse operation could lead to a fidelity greater than $2/3$ for any value of the decoherence parameter. The success probability of the protocol decreases with the strength of weak measurement, and is lower when both the qubits are affected by decoherence. Finally, our protocol is shown to work for the Wern…
We describe a quantum state transfer protocol, where a quantum state of photons stored in a first cavity can be faithfully transferred to a second distant cavity via an infinite 1D waveguide, while being immune to arbitrary noise (e.g. thermal noise) injected into the waveguide. We extend the model and protocol to a cavity QED setup, where atomic ensembles, or single atoms representing quantum memory, are coupled to a cavity mode. We present a detailed study of sensitivity to imperfections, and develop a quantum error correction protocol to account for random losses (or additions) of photons i…
With the development of delegated quantum computation, clients will want to ensure confidentiality of their data and algorithms, and the integrity of their computations. While protocols for blind and verifiable quantum computation exist, they suffer from high overheads and from over-sensitivity: When running on noisy devices, imperfections trigger the same detection mechanisms as malicious attacks, resulting in perpetually aborted computations. We introduce the first blind and verifiable protocol for delegating BQP computations to a powerful server with repetition as the only overhead. It is c…
