Eavesdropping on the＇ping-pong＇ quantum communication protocol freely in a noise channel

We introduce an attack scheme for eavesdropping freely the ping-pong quantum communication protocol proposed by Bostrǒm and Felbinger [Phys. Rev. Left. 89, 187902 （2002）] in a noise channel. The vicious eavesdropper, Eve, intercepts and measures the travel photon transmitted between the sender and the receiver. Then she replaces the quantum signal with a multi-photon signal in the same state, and measures the returned photons with the measuring basis, with which Eve prepares the fake signal except for one photon. This attack increases neither the quantum channel losses nor the error rate in the sampling instances for eavesdropping check. It works for eavesdropping the secret message transmitted with the ping-pong protocol. Finally, we propose a way for improving the security of the ping-pong protocol.

An efficient deterministic secure quantum communication scheme based on cluster states and identity authentication

A novel efficient deterministic secure quantum communication scheme based on four-qubit cluster states and single-photon identity authentication is proposed. In this scheme, the two authenticated users can transmit two bits of classical information per cluster state, and its efficiency of the quantum communication is 1/3, which is approximately 1.67 times that of the previous protocol presented by Wang et al [Chin. Phys. Lett. 23 （2006） 2658]. Security analysis shows the present scheme is secure against intercept-resend attack and the impersonator＇s attack. Furthermore, it is more economic with present-day techniques and easily processed by a one-way quantum computer.

Distributed wireless quantum communication networks with partially entangled pairs

Wireless quantum communication networks transfer quantum state by teleportation. Existing research focuses on maximal entangled pairs. In this paper, we analyse the distributed wireless quantum communication networks with partially entangled pairs. A quantum routing scheme with multi-hop teleportation is proposed. With the proposed scheme, is not necessary for the quantum path to be consistent with the classical path. The quantum path and its associated classical path are established in a distributed way. Direct multi-hop teleportation is conducted on the selected path to transfer a quantum state from the source to the destination. Based on the feature of multi-hop teleportation using partially entangled pairs, if the node number of the quantum path is even, the destination node will add another teleportation at itself. We simulated the performance of distributed wireless quantum communication networks with a partially entangled state. The probability of transferring the quantum state successfully is statistically analyzed. Our work shows that multi-hop teleportation on distributed wireless quantum networks with partially entangled pairs is feasible.

Quantum communication and entanglement between two distant atoms via vacuum fields

This paper proposes an efficient scheme for quantum communication between two atoms trapped in distant cavities which are connected by an optical fibre. During the operation, all the atomic system, the cavity modes and the fibre are not excited. The quantum state is mediated by the vacuum fields. The idea can be used to realize quantum entanglement between two distant atoms via vacuum.

Distributed wireless quantum communication networks

The distributed wireless quantum communication network （DWQCN） ha~ a distributed network topology and trans- mits information by quantum states. In this paper, we present the concept of the DWQCN and propose a system scheme to transfer quantum states in the DWQCN. The system scheme for transmitting information between any two nodes in the DWQCN includes a routing protocol and a scheme for transferring quantum states. The routing protocol is on-demand and the routing metric is selected based on the number of entangled particle pairs. After setting up a route, quantum tele- portation and entanglement swapping are used for transferring quantum states. Entanglement swapping is achieved along with the process of routing set up and the acknowledgment packet transmission. The measurement results of each entan- glement swapping are piggybacked with route reply packets or acknowledgment packets. After entanglement swapping, a direct quantum link between source and destination is set up and quantum states are transferred by quantum teleportation. Adopting this scheme, the measurement results of entanglement swapping do not need to be transmitted specially, which decreases the wireless transmission cost and transmission delay.

Fault tolerant deterministic secure quantum communication using logical Bell states against collective noise

This study proposes two novel fault tolerant deterministic secure quantum communication （DSQC） schemes resistant to collective noise using logical Bell states. Either DSQC scheme is constructed based on a new coding function, which is designed by exploiting the property of the corresponding logical Bell states immune to collective-dephasing noise and collective-rotation noise, respectively. The secret message can be encoded by two simple unitary operations and decoded by merely performing Bell measurements, which can make the proposed scheme more convenient in practical applications. Moreover, the strategy of one-step quanta transmission, together with the technique of decoy logical qubits checking not only reduces the influence of other noise existing in a quantum channel, but also guarantees the security of the communication between two legitimate users. The final analysis shows that the proposed schemes are feasible and robust against various well-known attacks over the collective noise channel.

Quantum communication via controlled holes in the statistical distribution of excitations in a nanoresonator coupled to a Cooper pair box

We propose a scheme to transmit information via the statistical distribution of excitations of a nanomechanical resonator. It employs a controllable coupling between this system and a Cooper pair box. The success probability and the fidelity are calculated and compared with those obtained in an atom-field system in different regimes. Addtionaly, the scheme can also be applied to prepare low excited Fock states.

Quantum communication for satellite-to-ground networks with partially entangled states

To realize practical wide-area quantum communication,a satellite-to-ground network with partially entangled states is developed in this paper.For efficiency and security reasons,the existing method of quantum communication in distributed wireless quantum networks with partially entangled states cannot be applied directly to the proposed quantum network.Based on this point,an efficient and secure quantum communication scheme with partially entangled states is presented.In our scheme,the source node performs teleportation only after an end-to-end entangled state has been established by entanglement swapping with partially entangled states.Thus,the security of quantum communication is guaranteed.The destination node recovers the transmitted quantum bit with the help of an auxiliary quantum bit and specially defined unitary matrices.Detailed calculations and simulation analyses show that the probability of successfully transferring a quantum bit in the presented scheme is high.In addition,the auxiliary quantum bit provides a heralded mechanism for successful communication.Based on the critical components that are presented in this article an efficient,secure,and practical wide-area quantum communication can be achieved.

Probabilistic direct counterfactual quantum communication

It is striking that the quantum Zeno effect can be used to launch a direct counterfactual communication between two spatially separated parties, Alice and Bob. So far, existing protocols of this type only provide a deterministic counterfactual communication service. However, this counterfactuality should be payed at a price. Firstly, the transmission time is much longer than a classical transmission costs. Secondly, the chained-cycle structure makes them more sensitive to channel noises. Here, we extend the idea of counterfactual communication, and present a probabilistic-counterfactual quantum communication protocol, which is proved to have advantages over the deterministic ones. Moreover, the presented protocol could evolve to a deterministic one solely by adjusting the parameters of the beam splitters.

Two-Way Cooperative Quantum Communication with Partial Entanglement Analysis

In this paper, we describe an improved cooperative two-way quantum communication scheme that works in a forward-and-backward fashion. In this scheme, partial entanglement analysis based on five-qubit entangled Brown state allows for the simultaneous exchange of arbitrary unknown states between Alice and Bob （with the help of trusted Charlie）. Security is guaranteed because opposing unknown states are transmitted by performing the suitable recovery operations in a deterministic way or, in the case of irregularities, no results are generated. The current two-way quantum communication scheme can also be extended to transmit arbitrary unknown states. This is done in a probabilistic way by using two-way quantum teleportation based on the generalized Brown-like state.

Robust general N User authentication scheme in a centralized quantum communication network via generalized G HZ states

Quantum communication provides an enormous advantage over its classical counterpart： security of communications based on the very principles of quantum mechanics. Researchers have proposed several approaches for user identity authentication via entanglement. Unfortunately, these protocols fail because an attacker can capture some of the particles in a transmitted sequence and send what is left to the receiver through a quantum channel. Subsequently, the attacker can restore some of the confidential messages, giving rise to the possibility of information leakage. Here we present a new robust General N user authentication protocol based on N-particle Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger （GHZ） states, which makes eavesdropping detection more effective and secure, as compared to some current authentication protocols. The security analysis of our protocol for various kinds of attacks verifies that it is unconditionally secure, and that an attacker will not obtain any information about the transmitted key. Moreover, as the number of transferred key bits N becomes larger, while the number of users for transmitting the information is increased, the probability of effectively obtaining the transmitted authentication keys is reduced to zero.

Quantum secure direct communication with Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type state (GHZ state) over noisy channels

We propose a quantum error-rejection scheme for direct communication with three-qubit quantum codes based on the direct communication of secret messages without any secret key shared in advance. Given the symmetric and independent errors of the transmitted qubits, our scheme can tolerate a bit of error rate up to 33.1%, thus the protocol is deterministically secure against any eavesdropping attack even in a noisy channel.

Efficient quantum secure communication with a publicly known key

This paper presents a simple way for an eavesdropper to eavesdrop freely the secret message in the experimental realization of quantum communication protocol proposed by Beige et al （2002 Acta Phys. Pol. A 101 357）. Moreover, it introduces an efficient quantum secure communication protocol based on a publicly known key with decoy photons and two biased bases by modifying the original protocol. The total efficiency of this new protocol is double that of the original one. With a low noise quantum channel, this protocol can be used for transmitting a secret message. At present, this protocol is good for generating a private key efficiently,

Deterministic secure quantum communication over a collective-noise channel

We present two deterministic secure quantum communication schemes over a collective-noise. One is used to complete the secure quantum communication against a collective-rotation noise and the other is used against a collective-dephasing noise. The two parties of quantum communication can exploit the correlation of their subsystems to check eavesdropping efficiently. Although the sender should prepare a sequence of three-photon entangled states for accomplishing secure communication against a collective noise,the two parties need only single-photon measurements,rather than Bell-state measurements,which will make our schemes convenient in practical application.

An error-free protocol for quantum entanglement distribution in long-distance quantum communication

Quantum entanglement distribution is an essential part of quantum communication and computation protocols. Here, linear optic elements are employed for the distribution of quantum entanglement over a long distance. Polarization beam splitters and wave plates are used to realize an error-free protocol for broadcasting quantum entanglement in optical quantum communication. This protocol can determine the maximum distance of quantum communication without decoherence. Error detection and error correc-tion are performed in the proposed scheme. In other words, if there is a bit flip along the quantum channel, the end stations (Alice and Bob) can detect this state change and obtain the correct state (entangled photon) at another port. Existing general error detec-tion protocols are based on the quantum controlled-NOT (CNOT) or similar quantum logic operations, which are very difficult to implement experimentally. Here we present a feasible scheme for the implementation of entanglement distribution based on a linear optics element that does not need a quantum CNOT gate.

Arbitrarily long distance quantum communication using inspection and power insertion

The biggest obstacle for long distance quantum communication is the channel loss and the channel noise on photons. In this paper,a method to solve this problem was analyzed using inspection and power insertion (IPI). It is proved that quantum communication may be established over arbitrarily long distance using this technology. The amount of resources required is a polynomial function of the dis-tance. IPI is proposed as a general technique to prolong quantum secure direct communication where secret messages are transmitted directly over a quantum channel.

Measurement-device-independent quantum communication without encryption

Security in communication is vital in modern life. At present, security is realized by an encryption process in cryptography. It is unbelievable if a secure communication is achievable without encryption. In quantum cryptography, there is a unique form of quantum communication, quantum secure direct communication, where secret information is transmitted directly over a quantum channel. Quantum secure direct communication is drastically distinct from our conventional concept of secure communication, because it does not require key distribution, key storage and ciphertext transmission, and eliminates the encryption procedure completely. Hence it avoids in principle all the security loopholes associated with key and ciphertext in traditional secure communications. For practical implementation, defects always exist in real devices and it may downgrade the security. Among the various device imperfections, those with the measurement devices are the most prominent and serious ones. Here we report a measurementdevice-independent quantum secure direct communication protocol using Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs. This protocol eradicates the security vulnerabilities associated with the measurement device,and greatly enhances the practical security of quantum secure direct communication. In addition to the security advantage, this protocol has an extended communication distance, and a high communication capacity.

Fault tolerant quantum secure direct communication with quantum encryption against collective noise

We present two novel quantum secure direct communication（QSDC） protocols over different collective-noise channels.Different from the previous QSDC schemes over collective-noise channels,which are all source-encrypting protocols,our two protocols are based on channel-encryption.In both schemes,two authorized users first share a sequence of EPR pairs as their reusable quantum key.Then they use their quantum key to encrypt and decrypt the secret message carried by the decoherence-free states over the collective-noise channel.In theory,the intrinsic efficiencies of both protocols are high since there is no need to consume any entangled states including both the quantum key and the information carriers except the ones used for eavesdropping checks.For checking eavesdropping,the two parties only need to perform two-particle measurements on the decoy states during each round.Finally,we make a security analysis of our two protocols and demonstrate that they are secure.

Recent development in quantum communication

In this review article,we will review the recent process of quantum communications.In the past decades,there are many developments in quantum communication,for instance,quantum key distribution,quantum teleportation,quantum secure direct communication,deterministic secure quantum communication,quantum secret sharing and so on.And we focus our attention on the recent developments in quantum communication protocols.