Source-independent quantum secret sharing with entangled photon pair networks.

Area of Science:

• Quantum Information Science
• Quantum Cryptography
• Quantum Networks

Background:

• Large-scale quantum secret sharing (QSS) deployment is hindered by complex multipartite entanglement requirements.
• Existing QSS protocols face challenges in generation and distribution of entangled states for quantum networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an efficient, source-independent QSS protocol for quantum networks.
• To overcome the limitations of multipartite entanglement generation and distribution in current QSS systems.

Main Methods:

• Utilized entangled photon pairs for a source-independent QSS protocol.
• Implemented a post-matching method to align measurement events in the same basis.
• Introduced an equivalent virtual protocol to prove unconditional security.

Main Results:

• Achieved a key rate nearly independent of the number of participants.
• Demonstrated unconditional security against both internal and external eavesdroppers.
• The protocol shows significant performance and technical advantages.

Conclusions:

• The proposed QSS protocol is efficient and suitable for quantum networks.
• It offers enhanced security and scalability for future quantum communication systems.
• This work facilitates the practical deployment of QSS in large-scale quantum networks.