Abstract
Secure communication is one of the key applications of quantum networks. In recent years, following the demands for identity protection in classical communication protocols, the need for anonymity has also emerged for quantum networks. Here, we demonstrate that quantum physics allows parties—besides communicating securely over a network—to also keep their identities secret. We implement such an anonymous quantum conference key agreement by sharing multipartite entangled states in a quantum network. We demonstrate the protocol with four parties and establish keys in subsets of the network—different combinations of two and three parties—whilst keeping the participating parties anonymous. We additionally show that the protocol is verifiable and run multiple key generation and verification routines. Our work thus addresses one of the key challenges of networked communication: keeping the identities of the communicating parties private.
Highlights
Beyond the security of key generation, quantum networks open up a wide range of possibilities regarding other aspects of secure communication
As classical networks are replaced by their quantum counterparts, anonymity will likewise be a vital requirement for networked quantum communication
Combining anonymity with the requirement for private communication between multiple parties leads to anonymous conference key agreement (ACKA) [16]
Summary
Christopher Thalacker1,2, Frederik Hahn3, Jarn de Jong4, Anna Pappa4 and Stefanie Barz1,2,∗ Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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