Practical Quantum No-key Protocol with Identification

Abstract

Quantum no-key protocol is a quantum realization of Shamir’s idea of no-key cryptosystem, which can be used to transport quantum and classical message secretly. It is beyond computational security. We give a practical quantum no-key protocol with mutual identification. In order to prevent MIM (man-in-the-middle) attack, we realize secure information transmission and identification by utilizing a short pre-shared secret bit sequence. And we use pseudo-random sequences to mix the photons which are used for information transmission and the photons which are used for identification. Pseudo-random sequence partly protects the secret sequence and makes our protocol more practical while do not weaken the security. We post a schematic diagram of the experimental set-up which is based on fiber communication system. Our protocol does not need entanglement, multi-qubit operation or classical communication.