Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology

Measurement-device-independent multi-party quantum key agreement

Bing‐Xin Liu, Rui‐Chen Huang, Yu‐Guang Yang, Guang‐Bao Xu

Published May 3, 2023• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum key agreement (QKA) is an important quantum cryptography primitive. In a QKA protocol, two or more untrusted parties can agree on an identical key in such a way that they equally influence the key and no subset can decide it alone. However, in practical QKA, the imperfections of the participant’s detectors can be exploited to compromise the security and fairness of QKA. To remove all the detector-side-channel loopholes, a measurement-device-independent multi-party QKA protocol is proposed. The protocol exploits the post-selected GHZ states to generate a secure agreement key between legitimate participants, while ensuring the fairness of key agreement. Our protocol provides a new clue for the design of practical QKA protocols.

DOI
10.3389/frqst.2023.1182637

Related papers

Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Agreement against Collective Noisy Channel

Yi‐Hua Zhou, Yang Xu, Yu‐Guang Yang +2 more

Abstract Quantum key agreement (QKA) permits participants to constitute a shared key on a quantum channel, while no participants can independently determine the shared key. However, existing Measurement-device-independent (MDI) protocols cannot resist channel noise, and noise-resistant QKA protocols cannot resist side-channel attacks caused by equipment defects. In this paper, we design a MDI-QKA protocol against collective-dephasing noise based on GHZ states. First, in our protocol, Alice and Bob prepare a certain number of GHZ states respectively, and then send two particles of each GHZ state to Charlie for bell measurement. Results are that Alice and Bob can obtain Bell states through entanglement exchange with the help of dishonest Charlie. Meanwhile ensures the transmission process noise-resisted. Then, Alice and Bob encode their key components to the particle in their hands and construct logical quantum states against collective noise through additional particles and CNOT operation to implement MDI-QKA. Compared with existing MDI-QKA protocols, our protocol uses logical quantum states during particle transfers, which makes the protocol immune to collective‑dephasing noise, and therefore improving the final key rate. Security analysis shows that our protocol can resist common insider and outsider attacks.

International Journal of Theoretical Physics•Jul 22, 2022•7 citations

Two-party quantum key agreement based on four-particle GHZ states

Yefeng He, Wenping Ma

Based on four-particle GHZ states, the double CNOT operation and the delayed measurement technique, a two-party quantum key agreement (QKA) protocols is proposed. The double CNOT operation makes each four-particle GHZ state collapse into two independent quantum states without any entanglement. Furthermore, one party can directly know the two quantum states and the other party can be aware of the two quantum states by using the corresponding measurement. According to the initial states of the two quantum states, two parties can extract the secret keys of each other by using the publicly announced value or by performing the delayed measurement, respectively. Then the protocol achieves the fair establishment of a shared key. The security analysis shows that the new protocol can resist against participant attacks, the Trojan horse attacks and other outsider attacks. Furthermore, the new protocol also has no information leakage problem and has high qubit efficiency.

International Journal of Quantum Information•Feb 1, 2016•27 citations

Mutual semi-quantum key agreement protocol using Bell states

Li Yan, Shi Bin Zhang, Yan Zuo Chang +2 more

Quantum key agreement (QKA) can generate a shared secret key which is equally negotiated by all the participants in the protocol. In most of the QKA protocols, all the participants require quantum capabilities. But the quantum devices are too expensive for participants. This paper proposes a mutual semi-quantum key agreement protocol which allows two parties (Alice and Bob) to negotiate a shared secret key equally. In the protocol, Alice can perform any quantum operation, but Bob is a classical participant which can only perform reflection, measurement and reorder operation. Even though Bob has fewer quantum resources, Alice and Bob have an equal contribution to the shared final key, no one can determine the shared key alone. In addition, we demonstrate the security of the proposed protocol. The analysis results show that the proposed protocol not only resists against some common attacks but also assures the fairness property. It is significant for communication participant without enough quantum devices to achieve quantum communication. The proposed protocol can be implemented with present quantum technologies.

Modern Physics Letters A•Aug 8, 2019•17 citations

Quantum key agreement via non-maximally entangled Bell states

Taichao Li, Min Jiang

In this paper, we propose one new quantum key agreement (QKA) protocol using non-maximally entangled Bell states with positive operator-valued measurement (POVM). It is designed for multi-party QKA by non-maximally entangled Bell states with POVM. Since Bell states and single particle can be obtained by various physical systems, thus, our protocol is feasible based on the current technology. It is secure against the outsider and participant attack. Further, it is shown that the shared key is decided by all participants. Therefore, it could guarantee the security and fairness.

IEEE International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control (ICNSC)•Oct 30, 2020•1 citation

Two-party Quantum Key Agreement Protocol Based on GHZ States

He Ye-feng

Abstract:In order to solve the problem that the multi-particle joint measurements are difficult to implement with the existing technology in the quantum key agreement protocols based on multi-particle entangled states , a new two-party quantum key agreement protocol was proposed based on three-particle GHZ states. Two participants in the protocol could fairly establish a shared secret key by using the measurement correlation property of three-particle GHZ states and the delayed measurement technique. Since the new protocol only used Bell measurements and single particle measurements, it was easy to achieve on the basis of the existing technology. The security analysis showed that the protocol could not only resist against participant attacks and outsider attacks, but also resist against two kinds of Trojan horse attacks. The protocol was secure not only in the noise-free quantum channel but also in the quantum noise channel. Finally, the comparison with the existed secure two-party protocols showed that the protocol also achieved higher qubit efficiency.

•Jan 1, 2016•0 citations

Multiparty quantum key agreement protocol secure against collusion attacks

Zhiwei Sun, Xiaoqiang Sun, Ping Wang

The fairness of a secure multi-party quantum key agreement (MQKA) protocol requires that all involved parties are entirely peer entities and can equally influence the outcome of the protocol to establish a shared key wherein no one can decide the shared key alone. However, it is found that parts of the existing MQKA protocols are sensitive to collusion attacks, i.e., some of the dishonest participants can collaborate to predetermine the final key without being detected. In this paper, a multi-party QKA protocol resisting collusion attacks is proposed. Different from previous QKA protocol resisting $N-1$ coconspirators or resisting $1$ coconspirators, we investigate the general circle-type MQKA protocol which can be secure against $t$ dishonest participants' cooperation. Here, $t < N$. We hope the results of the presented paper will be helpful for further research on fair MQKA protocols.

arXiv:1604.01112•Apr 5, 2016•9 citations
Quantum key agreement (QKA) is an important quantum cryptography primitive. In a QKA protocol, two or more untrusted parties can agree on an identical key in such a way that they equally influence the key and no subset can decide it alone. However, in practical QKA, the imperfections of the participant’s detectors can be exploited to compromise the security and fairness of QKA. To remove all the detector-side-channel loopholes, a measurement-device-independent multi-party QKA protocol is proposed. The protocol exploits the post-selected GHZ states to generate a secure agreement key between legitimate participants, while ensuring the fairness of key agreement. Our protocol provides a new clue for the design of practical QKA protocols.
Abstract Quantum key agreement (QKA) permits participants to constitute a shared key on a quantum channel, while no participants can independently determine the shared key. However, existing Measurement-device-independent (MDI) protocols cannot resist channel noise, and noise-resistant QKA protocols cannot resist side-channel attacks caused by equipment defects. In this paper, we design a MDI-QKA protocol against collective-dephasing noise based on GHZ states. First, in our protocol, Alice and Bob prepare a certain number of GHZ states respectively, and then send two particles of each GHZ state to Charlie for bell measurement. Results are that Alice and Bob can obtain Bell states through entanglement exchange with the help of dishonest Charlie. Meanwhile ensures the transmission process noise-resisted. Then, Alice and Bob encode their key components to the particle in their hands and construct logical quantum states against collective noise through additional particles and CNOT operation to implement MDI-QKA. Compared with existing MDI-QKA protocols, our protocol uses logical quantum states during particle transfers, which makes the protocol immune to collective‑dephasing noise, and therefore improving the final key rate. Security analysis shows that our protocol can resist common insider and outsider attacks.
Based on four-particle GHZ states, the double CNOT operation and the delayed measurement technique, a two-party quantum key agreement (QKA) protocols is proposed. The double CNOT operation makes each four-particle GHZ state collapse into two independent quantum states without any entanglement. Furthermore, one party can directly know the two quantum states and the other party can be aware of the two quantum states by using the corresponding measurement. According to the initial states of the two quantum states, two parties can extract the secret keys of each other by using the publicly announced value or by performing the delayed measurement, respectively. Then the protocol achieves the fair establishment of a shared key. The security analysis shows that the new protocol can resist against participant attacks, the Trojan horse attacks and other outsider attacks. Furthermore, the new protocol also has no information leakage problem and has high qubit efficiency.
Quantum key agreement (QKA) can generate a shared secret key which is equally negotiated by all the participants in the protocol. In most of the QKA protocols, all the participants require quantum capabilities. But the quantum devices are too expensive for participants. This paper proposes a mutual semi-quantum key agreement protocol which allows two parties (Alice and Bob) to negotiate a shared secret key equally. In the protocol, Alice can perform any quantum operation, but Bob is a classical participant which can only perform reflection, measurement and reorder operation. Even though Bob has fewer quantum resources, Alice and Bob have an equal contribution to the shared final key, no one can determine the shared key alone. In addition, we demonstrate the security of the proposed protocol. The analysis results show that the proposed protocol not only resists against some common attacks but also assures the fairness property. It is significant for communication participant without enough quantum devices to achieve quantum communication. The proposed protocol can be implemented with present quantum technologies.
In this paper, we propose one new quantum key agreement (QKA) protocol using non-maximally entangled Bell states with positive operator-valued measurement (POVM). It is designed for multi-party QKA by non-maximally entangled Bell states with POVM. Since Bell states and single particle can be obtained by various physical systems, thus, our protocol is feasible based on the current technology. It is secure against the outsider and participant attack. Further, it is shown that the shared key is decided by all participants. Therefore, it could guarantee the security and fairness.
Abstract:In order to solve the problem that the multi-particle joint measurements are difficult to implement with the existing technology in the quantum key agreement protocols based on multi-particle entangled states , a new two-party quantum key agreement protocol was proposed based on three-particle GHZ states. Two participants in the protocol could fairly establish a shared secret key by using the measurement correlation property of three-particle GHZ states and the delayed measurement technique. Since the new protocol only used Bell measurements and single particle measurements, it was easy to achieve on the basis of the existing technology. The security analysis showed that the protocol could not only resist against participant attacks and outsider attacks, but also resist against two kinds of Trojan horse attacks. The protocol was secure not only in the noise-free quantum channel but also in the quantum noise channel. Finally, the comparison with the existed secure two-party protocols showed that the protocol also achieved higher qubit efficiency.
The fairness of a secure multi-party quantum key agreement (MQKA) protocol requires that all involved parties are entirely peer entities and can equally influence the outcome of the protocol to establish a shared key wherein no one can decide the shared key alone. However, it is found that parts of the existing MQKA protocols are sensitive to collusion attacks, i.e., some of the dishonest participants can collaborate to predetermine the final key without being detected. In this paper, a multi-party QKA protocol resisting collusion attacks is proposed. Different from previous QKA protocol resisting N−1N-1N−1 coconspirators or resisting 111 coconspirators, we investigate the general circle-type MQKA protocol which can be secure against ttt dishonest participants' cooperation. Here, t<Nt < Nt<N. We hope the results of the presented paper will be helpful for further research on fair MQKA protocols.