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EPJ Quantum Technology

An efficient multiparty semi-quantum secret sharing protocol using single photons

Chung-Yung Huang, Jason Lin

Published Oct 21, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This study proposes a multiparty single-photon semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol to simultaneously improve quantum bit (qubit) efficiency and practical feasibility. Existing quantum secret sharing protocols typically assume that all participants possess full quantum capabilities, which limits their deployment in real-world environments. To address this issue, the proposed protocol was designed using a semi-quantum model, allowing N agents with limited quantum capabilities to participate in the secret-sharing process. In terms of efficiency, the proposed protocol employs single photons as quantum resources and is analyzed under a unified definition of qubit efficiency. The results show that the qubit efficiency of the proposed protocol reaches \(\frac{1}{2N}\) , which is comparable to the best recent quantum secret sharing protocols and outperforms most existing SQSS methods. Unlike certain protocols in which qubit efficiency decreases exponentially with the number of participants, the quantum resource consumption of the proposed protocol increases linearly with the number of agents. Consequently, its qubit efficiency decreases proportionally to \(\frac{1}{N}\) , rather than exponentially, providing better scalability as the number of agents increases. In terms of security, the protocol is analyzed against several attack models, including intercept-resend, entangle-and-measure, collective, and collusion attacks. The analysis shows that an adversary cannot obtain useful information without detection under these attacks, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed protocol.

DOI
10.1140/epjqt/s40507-026-00579-8

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This study proposes a multiparty single-photon semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol to simultaneously improve quantum bit (qubit) efficiency and practical feasibility. Existing quantum secret sharing protocols typically assume that all participants possess full quantum capabilities, which limits their deployment in real-world environments. To address this issue, the proposed protocol was designed using a semi-quantum model, allowing N agents with limited quantum capabilities to participate in the secret-sharing process. In terms of efficiency, the proposed protocol employs single photons as quantum resources and is analyzed under a unified definition of qubit efficiency. The results show that the qubit efficiency of the proposed protocol reaches (\frac{1}{2N}) , which is comparable to the best recent quantum secret sharing protocols and outperforms most existing SQSS methods. Unlike certain protocols in which qubit efficiency decreases exponentially with the number of participants, the quantum resource consumption of the proposed protocol increases linearly with the number of agents. Consequently, its qubit efficiency decreases proportionally to (\frac{1}{N}) , rather than exponentially, providing better scalability as the number of agents increases. In terms of security, the protocol is analyzed against several attack models, including intercept-resend, entangle-and-measure, collective, and collusion attacks. The analysis shows that an adversary cannot obtain useful information without detection under these attacks, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed protocol.
This paper presents a semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol based on three-particle W states, designed for efficient and secure secret sharing in quantum-resource-constrained scenarios. In the protocol, a fully quantum-capable sender encodes binary secrets using W, while receivers with limited quantum capabilities reconstruct the secret through collaborative Z basis measurements and classical communication, ensuring no single participant can obtain the complete information independently. The protocol employs a four-state decoy photon technique ({|0⟩,|1⟩,|+⟩,|−⟩}) and position randomization, combined with photon number splitting (PNS) and wavelength filtering (WF) technologies, to resist intercept–resend, entanglement–measurement, and double controlled-NOT(CNOT) attacks. Theoretical analysis shows that the detection probability of intercept–resend attacks increases exponentially with the number of decoy photons (approaching 1). For entanglement–measurement attacks, any illegal operation by an attacker introduces detectable quantum state disturbances. Double CNOT attacks are rendered ineffective by the untraceability of particle positions and mixed-basis strategies. Leveraging the robust entanglement of W states, the protocol proves that the mutual information between secret bits and single-participant measurement results is strictly zero, ensuring lossless reconstruction only through authorized collaboration.
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The security of a secret sharing protocol is compromised if one or more dishonest participants can reconstruct the secret by deviating from the prescribed protocol, particularly when such malicious behavior remains undetected. Semi-Quantum Secret Sharing (SQSS) is a variant of secret sharing in which the participants possess only classical capabilities, such as preparing and measuring qubits in the computational (ZZZ) basis, while a quantum-capable third party assists the dealer in generating and distributing quantum shares of a classical secret. The limited quantum capabilities of the participants in SQSS protocols may introduce vulnerabilities to collusion attacks, enabling an assisting quantum third party, in collaboration with a dishonest classical participant, to jointly recover the secret even without detection. In this work, we propose a novel SQSS protocol that eliminates this vulnerability and achieves information-theoretic security against collusion attacks. We further prove that the proposed protocol is secure against a broad class of external and internal attacks. Finally, a comparative analysis demonstrates that our construction advances existing SQSS protocols by simultaneously optimizing qubit efficiency, involves a classical dealer, and resilience against DCNA attacks using basic Bell states.
Most semi-quantum secret sharing protocols are suitable for the application with three participants. Based on the n-level states, a multiparty semi-quantum secret sharing protocol is proposed. Compared with similar protocols, it has the merits as follows. (1) The dealer only needs to prepare the single photon sequence without using any product state or entangle state. (2) To share a secret, the classical parties need not have the ability of measurement. They only need to reorder the photon sequence and send it to the receiver. (3) The dealer knows nothing about any agent’s secret shadow. Therefore, it is infeasible for the dealer to impersonate the classical participant to pool the secret shadow during the secret recovering phase. (4) Theoretically, the qubit efficiency of the proposed protocol is asymptotically 100%. The protocol is secure against famous attacks such as intercept-resend attack, measurement-resend attack and entangle-measure attack.
Semi-quantum cryptography communication stipulates that the quantum user has complete quantum capabilities, and the classical user has limited quantum capabilities, only being able to perform the following operations: (1) measuring and preparing qubits with a Z basis and (2) returning qubits without any processing. Secret sharing requires participants to work together to obtain complete secret information, which ensures the security of the secret information. In the semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol, the quantum user Alice divides the secret information into two parts and gives them to two classical participants. Only when they cooperate can they obtain Alice's original secret information. The quantum states with multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) are defined as hyper-entangled states. Based on the hyper-entangled single-photon states, an efficient SQSS protocol is proposed. The security analysis proves that the protocol can effectively resist well-known attacks. Compared with the existing protocols, this protocol uses hyper-entangled states to expand the channel capacity. The transmission efficiency is 100% higher than that of single-degree-of-freedom (DoF) single-photon states, providing an innovative scheme for the design of the SQSS protocol in quantum communication networks. This research also provides a theoretical basis for the practical application of semi-quantum cryptography communication.
Abstract The fundamental concept of secret sharing involves dividing a secret into multiple parts and distributing them among several participants, who collectively safeguard the secret. When it comes to restoring the secret, cooperation among specific participants is necessary to reconstruct the original secret. Quantum secret sharing (QSS) employs quantum methods to address some limitations of classical secret sharing. Semi-QSS, an advancement of quantum methods, requires fewer quantum resources. Previous semi-quantum protocols demanded at least one participant with full quantum capabilities and randomly generated secret information. This paper introduces a protocol allowing three participants lacking complete quantum capabilities to share secret information of specific bits with the assistance of a third party possessing complete quantum capabilities. Unlike previous approaches, this protocol does not require participants to possess full quantum capabilities and shares secret information of specific bits. These characteristics make the protocol more practical and flexible for real-world applications.