Multiparty quantum anonymous voting with discrete modulated coherent states and an optical frequency comb

Area of Science:

• Quantum Information Science
• Quantum Optics
• Secure Communications

Background:

• Realizing practical, large-scale quantum systems for secure multiparty communication is a significant challenge.
• Optical frequency combs (OFCs) offer potential as quantum resources for continuous-variable quantum information processing.
• Previous work by Guidry et al. explored the quantum optics of Kerr-based OFCs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a distributed quantum anonymous voting (DQAV) protocol.
• To utilize a Kerr-based OFC as a quantum resource for multiparty voting.
• To ensure both security and anonymity in quantum voting systems.

Main Methods:

• The protocol employs discrete modulated coherent states.
• A Kerr-based OFC generates multi-frequency quantum signals for voting.
• Phase compensation methods are designed for the OFC-based protocol.
• Voting anonymity is achieved through random frequency source assignment and homogeneous quantum operations.

Main Results:

• The proposed DQAV protocol ensures voting security via quantum mechanics principles.
• Anonymity is achieved through randomized frequency assignment and uniform quantum operations.
• Numerical analysis quantifies the secure voting distance over thermal-lossy channels.

Conclusions:

• The Kerr-based OFC serves as a viable quantum resource for secure and anonymous multiparty voting.
• The proposed protocol demonstrates advancements in multiparty and multivalued quantum voting tasks.
• This work contributes to the development of practical quantum information processing systems.