Authenticated Semi-Quantum Key Distribution Protocol Based on W States

Hung-Wen Wang; Chia-Wei Tsai; Jason Lin; Chun-Wei Yang

doi:10.3390/s22134998

Authenticated Semi-Quantum Key Distribution Protocol Based on W States

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 2;22(13):4998. doi: 10.3390/s22134998.

Authors

Hung-Wen Wang¹, Chia-Wei Tsai², Jason Lin³, Chun-Wei Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Master Program for Digital Health Innovation, College of Humanities and Sciences, China Medical University, No. 100, Sec. 1, Jingmao Rd., Beitun Dist., Taichung 406040, Taiwan.
² Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, No. 129, Sec. 3, Sanmin Rd., North Dist., Taichung 40401, Taiwan.
³ Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, No. 145, Xingda Rd., South Dist., Taichung 40227, Taiwan.

Abstract

In 2019, Wen et al. proposed authenticated semi-quantum key distribution (ASQKD) for identity and message using the teleportation of W states and GHZ-like states without pre-shared keys. However, the ASQKD protocol presents a vital issue in the teleportation of W states owing to its inappropriate design. Bob recovers the teleported W states without obtaining the position of the corresponding photons and then returns the recovered photons back to Alice. Hence, the teleportation of W states in Wen et al.'s ASQKD protocol was malfunctioning. Moreover, Wen et al.'s ASQKD protocol requires quantum memory, which strongly disobeys the definition of semi-quantum proposed by Boyer et al. Therefore, in this study, we discover the flaws of Wen et al.'s ASQKD protocol and propose an authenticated semi-quantum key distribution protocol. When compared to Wen et al.'s ASQKD protocol, the proposed ASQKD protocol has the following advantages: legal semi-quantum environment (i.e., does not require quantum memory), reduced quantum hardware requirement (i.e., based only on W states), does not involve classical cryptography (i.e., the hash function), and provided 1.6 times higher qubit efficiency.

Keywords: authentication; quantum cryptography; semi-quantum key distribution; w state.

MeSH terms

Computers*

Grants and funding

This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. (Grant Nos. MOST 110-2221-E-039-004, MOST 110-2221-E-143-003, MOST 110-2221-E-259-001, MOST 110-2221-E-143-004, MOST 110-2222-E-005-006, MOST 110-2634-F-005-006, and MOST 111-2218-E-005-007-MBK), and China Medical University, Taiwan (Grant Nos. CMU110-S-21 and CMU110-MF-121).