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Design of a Super-Pixel-Based Quantum Secure Authentication Demonstrator

Chris Toebes, Tristan Bernhard Horst Tentrup, Pepijn W. H. Pinkse

Published Oct 10, 2017• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Quantum Secure Authentication (QSA) is a method recently developed to authenticate a multiple-scattering key [1]. Previous implementations only showed proof-of-principle setups. We present a design of a compact and robust demonstration device for Quantum Secure Authentication. The challenge and response formation is performed by digital micromirror devices in a super pixel configuration [2]. The setup is designed to be able to operate in the classical and quantum regime, in order to be used for key alignment as well as authentication measurements. Here we will discuss the design criteria and decisions and first experimental results. References [1] S. A. Goorden, M. Horstmann, A. P. Mosk, B. Škorić, and P. W. H. Pinkse, Optica 1, 421–424 (2014) [2] S. A. Goorden, J. Bertolotti, and A. P. Mosk, Opt. Express 22, 17999 - 18009 (2014)

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Quantum Secure Authentication (QSA) is a method recently developed to authenticate a multiple-scattering key [1]. Previous implementations only showed proof-of-principle setups. We present a design of a compact and robust demonstration device for Quantum Secure Authentication. The challenge and response formation is performed by digital micromirror devices in a super pixel configuration [2]. The setup is designed to be able to operate in the classical and quantum regime, in order to be used for key alignment as well as authentication measurements. Here we will discuss the design criteria and decisions and first experimental results. References [1] S. A. Goorden, M. Horstmann, A. P. Mosk, B. Škorić, and P. W. H. Pinkse, Optica 1, 421–424 (2014) [2] S. A. Goorden, J. Bertolotti, and A. P. Mosk, Opt. Express 22, 17999 - 18009 (2014)
Authentication of persons and objects is a crucial aspect of security. We experimentally demonstrate quantum-secure authentication (QSA) of a classical multiple-scattering key. The key is authenticated by illuminating it with a light pulse containing fewer photons than spatial degrees of freedom and verifying the spatial shape of the reflected light. Quantum-physical principles forbid an attacker to fully characterize the incident light pulse. Therefore, he cannot emulate the key by digitally constructing the expected optical response, even if all information about the key is publicly known. QSA uses a key that cannot be copied due to technological limitations and is quantum-secure against digital emulation. Moreover, QSA does not depend on secrecy of stored data, does not depend on unproven mathematical assumptions, and is straightforward to implement with current technology.
A new interactive quantum zero-knowledge protocol for identity authentication implementable in currently available quantum cryptographic devices is proposed and demonstrated. The protocol design involves a verifier and a prover knowing a pre-shared secret, and the acceptance or rejection of the proof is determined by the quantum bit error rate. It has been implemented in modified Quantum Key Distribution devices executing two fundamental cases. In the first case, all players are honest, while in the second case, one of the users is a malicious player. We demonstrate an increase of the quantum bit error rate around 25% in the latter case compared to the case of honesty. The protocol has also been validated for distances from a back-to-back setup to more than 60 km between verifier and prover. The security and robustness of the protocol has been analysed, demonstrating its completeness, soundness and zero-knowledge properties.
As quantum technologies advance, ensuring secure authentication of quantum devices has become increasingly important. Existing methods, often relying on stored cryptographic keys, are vulnerable to physical and side-channel attacks. Quantum Physical Unclonable Functions (QPUFs) offer a promising alternative by leveraging quantum phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, and quantum noise to produce unique, unclonable responses. However, many existing QPUF designs are based on simulations or report only idealized, best-case results. This work presents and evaluates a set of QPUF circuits on IBM’s real quantum hardware, assessing their performance in terms of instability, randomness, and uniqueness to identify the most effective configurations. Our results show that specific configurations can achieve a positive balance between stability and device distinguishability, reaching 0.05 instability, 0.48 uniqueness, and 0.75 randomness. These findings provide a solid foundation for implementing robust authentication protocols tailored for quantum devices in real-world settings.
We introduce Quantum Spectral Authentication (QSA), a symmetric-key entity-authentication and key-derivation protocol in which a remote endpoint proves it still holds a hidden planted state, an eigenstate of the challenge it can prepare, without revealing it. Each round issues a fresh public unitary challenge with its own planted state, and the endpoint returns an eigenphase feature from which both parties derive transcript-bound session material. QSA runs in two provisioning modes with materially different security: a seed mode, storing a classical seed that regenerates the planted state, and a state mode, holding only the physical register carrying it, non-copyable and consumed on use. We give a formal security model in which QSA is an identification scheme, prove mutual authentication under a single label-hiding assumption, and prove unconditionally that the published spectrum is near-uniform at the readout resolution, leaving at least m−1m-1m−1 bits of min-entropy per instance; state mode satisfies the assumption by construction. We develop a symmetric verifier-driven compiler compatible with low-depth quantum phase estimation, which also admits a fast path that recovers the label by an inverse-compiler measurement. Simulations show it is more noise-tolerant than an asymmetric alternative, and experiments on IBM ibm_fez provide a hardware sanity check.
This work presents a new scheme based on a quantum zero-knowledge proof for identity authentication. The novelty of this research is the migration of the classical concept Zero-knowledge into the quantum cryptographic framework that, to the best of our knowledge, has never been explored. This approach allows us to take advantage of the principles of quantum mechanics to build a protocol, which is secure against quantum computer attacks, for authenticating several users having access to the same network node. The protocol has been designed, its security analysed and implemented in modified Quantum Key Distribution devices. Two scenarios have been analysed experimentally, the first being both the prover and the verifier honest players, and the second case being the prover a malicious player, the latter demonstrating a notable increase in the quantum bit error rate that prevents a fraudulent authentication.