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Nowadays, quantum communications provide a vast field of research in rapid expansion, with a huge potential impact on the future developments of quantum technologies. In particular, continuous variable systems, employing coherent-state encoding and quadrature measurements, represent a suitable platform, due to their compatibility with both the modulation and detection systems currently employed in standard fiber-optical communications. In this work, we address some relevant aspects of the field, and provide innovative results being also experimentally oriented. In particular, we focus on two relevant paradigms: quantum decision theory and continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD). In the former case, we address the problem of coherent-state discrimination and design new hybrid receivers for binary phase-shift keying discrimination, obtaining a quantum advantage over conventional detection schemes, being also robust against typical experimental imperfections. In the latter scenario, we proceed in two different directions. On the one hand, we design new CVQKD protocols employing discrete modulation of coherent states, being a feasible solution compatible with the state of the art in optical communications technologies. On the other hand, we address the more fundamental problem of performing channel losses mitigation to enhance existing protocols, and investigate the role of optical amplifiers for the task. Finally, we make a first step towards a fully non-Gaussian CVQKD scheme by proposing, for the first time, the adoption of an optimized state-discrimination receiver, commonly adopted for quantum decision theory, within the context of CVQKD, obtaining a genuine quantum enhancement over conventional protocols.

Using a Hubbard–Stratonovich like decomposition technique, we implemented simulations for the quantum circuits of Simon's algorithm for the detection of the periodicity of a function and Shor's algorithm for the factoring of prime numbers on a classical computer. Our approach has the advantage that the dimension of the problem does not grow exponentially with the number of qubits.

One obstacle in the simulation of quantum circuits is the high dimension of the Hilbert space. Using auxiliary field decompositions known from many-particle simulation, we can transform the mathematical description of the quantum circuit into a combination low-dimensional product states which can be sampled using Monte Carlo techniques. We demonstrate the method using Simon's algorithm for the detection of the period of a function.

A three-party controlled deterministic secure quantum communication scheme through entanglement swapping is proposed firstly. In the scheme, the sender needs to prepare a class of Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states which are used as quantum channel. The two communicators may securely communicate under the control of the controller if the quantum channel is safe. The roles of the sender, the receiver, and the controller can be exchanged owing to the symmetry of the quantum channel. Different from other controlled quantum secure communication schemes, the scheme needs lesser additional classical information for transferring secret information. Finally, it is generalized to a multiparty controlled deterministic secure quantum communication scheme.

In the most arbitrated quantum signatures (AQSs), the signers and verifiers need to perform the quantum key distribution protocols or some other protocols to share secret keys before signing a signature. In some schemes, the entangle states, which are not easily implemented, have to be prepared and distributed among the partners. Based on single photon and one-way functions, a new AQS scheme without entangled states is proposed. In our scheme, the signer generates a quantum signature on the classical message with his/her private key and the one-way function. The arbitrator communicates with the signer through a classical unencrypted channel. The signer and verifier need not perform the key distribution protocol before signing a message. On the other hand, without entangled states, our scheme can reduce the complexity of implementation. Then, our scheme is more efficient than the similar schemes. At the same time, our scheme is secure against forgery attack and disavowal attack.

In this paper, we present a novel measurement-device-independent quantum protocol for Private Set Intersection/ Union Cardinality. This protocol takes weak coherent pulses in the BB84 polarization states as quantum resources, instead of ideal single photons, and only needs to perform Bell state identifications, instead of perfect Bell state measurements. With the current technology, our protocol has better feasibility and higher security than the related quantum protocol. Finally, we verify the correctness and feasibility of the proposed quantum protocol by circuit simulations in IBM Qiskit.

The current theoretical analysis model for high-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) was developed without carefully considering the dead time and after-pulse of the single-photon detectors. Here, we propose a new model that accounts for these two effects. With this model, we analyze the effects of various properties of the single-photon detector on the performance of the high-dimensional quantum key distribution and show numerically that the high-dimensional quantum key distribution can be achieved up to 180 km with InGaAs/InP-type single-photon detectors. This work can improve our understanding of the factors that determine the performance of high-dimensional quantum key distribution and will help to promote the application of single-photon detectors based on avalanche photodiodes in high-dimensional quantum key distribution.

We review the relations between squeezing and optical communication advances and introduce the field of distributed phase-sensitive amplification, where we expect this cross-fertilization to happen next. We consider the quantum noise properties of phase-sensitive amplifiers in lossy fiber in the case of arbitrary parametric gain distribution along the fiber length. Three most important cases of gain followed by loss, loss followed by gain, and ideally distributed gain, are discussed in detail. We show that ideally distributed phase-sensitive amplifier maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio for a fixed non-linear phase shift in the fiber span, and is promising for both classical and quantum communications.

Some of the recent developments concerning the propagation of quantum correlations across spin channels are reviewed. In particular, we focus on the improvement of the transport efficiency obtained by the manipulation of few energy parameters (either end-bond strengths or local magnetic fields) near the sending and receiving sites. We give a physically insightful description of various such schemes and discuss the transfer of both entanglement and of quantum discord.

Due to the infinite range of possibly achievable degrees of freedom, orbital angular momentum (OAM) can tremendously increase the capacity of communication system. Here, we propose a scheme to generate OAM entanglement by using interaction-free measurement (IFM). As the superposition state of the quantum absorption object is not changed after IFM, our scheme can be extended to multiparty easily. The numerical analysis results show that the fidelity of generated OAM entanglement can be arbitrarily close to unity. Besides, the implementation issues are also discussed to evaluate the feasibility in experiment. This OAM entanglement with multiple degrees of freedom will play a key role in distributed entanglement computing and efficient quantum communication.

In this letter, a efficient scheme is proposed for the quantum secret encryption and decryption implementation for quantum secret sharing protocol with trapped ions in thermal motion, in which the effective Hamiltonian does not involve the external degree of freedom and thus the scheme is insensitive to the external state, allowing it to be thermal state. The proposed scheme requires no auxiliary states to assist intermediate atomic transitions and conditional quantum dynamics for quantum phase flip and quantum state diffusion. Besides, secret transmission using entanglement swapping also has been presented.

A security loophole exists in Gao et al.'s controlled quantum secure direct communication protocol. By employing the security loophole, the receiver can obtain the secret message sent by the sender without the permission of the controller in their protocol. In order to avoid this loophole, we present an improved protocol in this paper. In the improved protocol, entangled particles are prepared at random in two GHZ-like states, which ensure that the receiver is not able to recover the secret message without knowing the initially entangled state. Compared with the other improved version whose security depends on the perfect quantum channel, our improved protocol is secure in a noisy quantum channel. Therefore, our protocol is more practical.

A two-step quantum dialogue scheme is put forward with a class of three-qubit W state and quantum dense coding. Each W state can carry three bits of secret information and the measurement result is encrypted without information leakage. Furthermore, we utilize the entangle properties of W state and decoy photon checking technique to realize three-time channel detection, which can improve the efficiency and security of the scheme.

In this paper, we design a novel quantum secret information equal exchange protocol, which implements the equal exchange of secret information between the two parties with the help of semi-trusted third party (TP). In the protocol, EPR pairs prepared by the TP are, respectively, distributed to both the communication parties. Then, the two parties perform Pauli operation on each particle and return the new particles to TP, respectively. TP measures each new pair with Bell basis and announces the measurement results. Both parties deduce the secret information of each other according to the result of announcement by TP. Finally, the security analysis shows that this protocol solves the problem about equal exchange of secret information between two parties and verifies the security of semi-trusted TPs. It proves that the protocol can effectively resist glitch attacks, intercept retransmission attacks and entanglement attack.

Quantum communication plays an important role in quantum information science due to its unconditional security. In practical implementations, the users of each communication vary with the transmitted information, and hence not all users are required to participate in each communication round. Therefore, improving the flexibility and efficiency of the actual communication process is highly demanded. Here, we propose a theoretical quantum communication scheme that realizes secret key distribution for both the two-party quantum key distribution (QKD) and multi-party quantum secret sharing (QSS) modes. The sender, Alice, can freely select one or more users to share keys among all users, and nonactive users will not participate in the process of secret key sharing. Numerical simulations show the superiority of the proposed scheme in transmission distance and secure key rate. Consequently, the proposed scheme is valuable for secure quantum communication network scenarios.

Quantum direct communication (QDC) uses the basic principle of quantum mechanics to realize the secure communication between legal parties. Deterministic secure quantum communication (DSQC), as a branch of QDC, is a way to transmit secret message with the aid of classical bits. In this paper, a multi-party DSQC based on $d$-dimension $k$-particles GHZ states is proposed, in which unitary operation is not required. On the basis of $d$-dimension single-photon measurement results, the communication parties encode and decode the message through performing modulo addition and subtraction. In addition, the scheme uses the added $d$-dimension single photon for eavesdropping detection. The scheme has expansibility and universality. It can scale to as many parties in any dimension as required. Based on the star-shaped communication structure, it can be extended to a network to achieve the rapid communication of secret message across regions.

Entangled photon source is an essential tool for quantum information experiments, such as tests of Bell inequalities, quantum teleportation, and entanglement swapping. We report the generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs using grating structures of nonlinear materials such as Ti-diffused Lithium Niobate. This approach is useful for quantum integrated optics because the size of this element is less than 325 micron. Polarization-entangled photon pairs are created using the nonlinear optical process of type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The pump laser at 800 nm was doubled to a wavelength of 400 nm, which was used to produce SPDC in the grating structure of Lithium Niobate. The entangled photon pairs were generated at wavelengths 692 nm and 950 nm. The used grating structure consists of two sections. Grating period and length of the first section are 162 nm and 129.6 micron, respectively. Grating period of the second section is 193 nm and its length is equal to 193 micron.

In this paper, we theoretically analyze optically-induced transparency and absorption properties of a weak probe field in a two-mode coupled micro-cavity system and explore the tunable asymmetric Fano line shape of the transmission rates of the probe field. Both the modes in our system consist of an optical Kerr medium, one of them being passive while the other mode can be either active or passive. The forward transmission and backward reflection profile of the probe field are investigated for both passive–passive and passive–active cavity systems by varying different system parameters such as probe field detuning, photon tunneling strength, gain-to-loss ratio, etc. The results of this study have the potential to be applied in construction of quantum telecommunication and photonic devices.

We present additional considerations to elucidate the nature of Cohen's classical teleportation of classical bits.

We formulate the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) gedankenexperiment within the framework of relativistic quantum theory to analyze a situation in which measurements are performed by moving observers. We point out that under certain conditions the perfect anti-correlation of an EPR pair of spins in the same direction deteriorates in the moving observers' frame due to the Wigner rotation, and show that the degree of the violation of Bell's inequality prima facie decreases with increasing velocity of the observers if the directions of the measurement are fixed. However, this does not imply a breakdown of non-local correlation since the perfect anti-correlation is maintained in appropriately chosen different directions. When considering moving frames we must take account of this relativistic effect on the EPR correlation and on the violation of Bell's inequality for quantum communication.