Design and analysis of a set of discrete variable protocols for secure quantum communication

Abstract

The advent of quantum key distribution (QKD) has revolutionized secure communication by providing unconditional security, unlike classical cryptographic methods. However, its effectiveness relies on robust identity authentication, as vulnerabilities in the authentication process can cause a compromise with the security of the entire communication system. Over the past three decades, numerous quantum identity authentication (QIA) protocols have been proposed. This thesis first presents a chronological review of these protocols, categorizing them based on quantum resources and computational tasks involved while analyzing their strengths and limitations. Subsequently, by recognizing inherent symmetries present in the existing protocols, we design novel QIA schemes based on secure computational and communication tasks. Specifically, this work introduces a set of new QIA protocols that utilize controlled secure direct quantum communication. The proposed scheme facilitates mutual authentication between two users, Alice and Bob, with assistance from a third party, Charlie, using Bell states. A comprehensive security analysis demonstrates its robustness against impersonation, intercept-resend, and fraudulent authentication attacks. The comparative evaluation highlights its advantages over existing schemes. Additionally, this thesis presents two novel QKD protocols that eliminate the need for entanglement or ideal single-photon sources, making them feasible with commercially available photon sources. These protocols are rigorously proven to be secure against various attacks, including intercept-resend and certain collective attacks. Key rate bounds are established, demonstrating that specific classical pre-processing enhances the tolerable error threshold. PHD THESIS