Quantum Networking

With the rapid development of quantum computers the currently secure cryptographic protocols may not stay that way. Quantum mechanics provides means to create an inherently secure communication channel that is protected by the laws of physics and not by the computational hardness of certain mathematical problems. This paper is a non-technical overview of quantum key distribution, one of the most well-known application of quantum cryptography, a type of cryptography poised to ...

In this paper we provide an intuitive-level discussion of the challenges and opportunities offered by quantum-based methods for supporting secure communications, e.g., over a network. The goal is to distill down to the most fundamental issues and concepts in order to provide a clear foundation for assessing the potential value of quantum-based technologies relative to classical alternatives. It is hoped that this form of exposition can provide greater clarity of perspective t...

Communication security has to evolve to a higher plane in the face of the threat from the massive computing power of the emerging quantum computers. Quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) constitutes a promising branch of quantum communication, which is provably secure and overcomes the threat of quantum computing, whilst conveying secret messages directly via the quantum channel. In this survey, we highlight the motivation and the status of QSDC research with special emp...

With the recent advancements and developments in quantum technologies, the emerging field of quantum communication and networking has gained the attention of the researchers. Owing to the unique properties of quantum mechanics, viz., quantum superposition and entanglement, this new area of quantum communication has shown potential to replace modernday communication technologies. The enhanced security and high information sharing ability using principles of quantum mechanics h...

Over the past several decades, the proliferation of global classical communication networks has transformed various facets of human society. Concurrently, quantum networking has emerged as a dynamic field of research, driven by its potential applications in distributed quantum computing, quantum sensor networks, and secure communications. This prompts a fundamental question: rather than constructing quantum networks from scratch, can we harness the widely available classical ...

Quantum computing represents an emerging threat to the public key infrastructure underlying transport layer security (TLS) widely used in the Internet. This paper describes how QKD symmetric keys can be used with TLS to provide quantum computing resistant security for existing Internet applications. We also implement and test a general hybrid key delivery architecture with QKD over long distance fibers between secure sites, and wireless key distribution over short distance wi...

The Quantum Internet, by enabling quantum communications among remote quantum nodes, is a network capable of supporting functionalities with no direct counterpart in the classical world. Indeed, with the network and communications functionalities provided by the Quantum Internet, remote quantum devices can communicate and cooperate for solving challenging computational tasks by adopting a distributed computing approach. The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with an o...

Quantum key distribution (QKD) promises secure key agreement by using quantum mechanical systems. We argue that QKD will be an important part of future cryptographic infrastructures. It can provide long-term confidentiality for encrypted information without reliance on computational assumptions. Although QKD still requires authentication to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, it can make use of either information-theoretically secure symmetric key authentication or computation...

We present the fundamental principles behind quantum key distribution and discuss a few well-known QKD protocols. Bearing in mind that the majority of our readers are from engineering and experimental optics, we focus more on the experimental implementation of various QKD protocols rather than security analysis. Another important topic that is covered here is the study of the security of practical QKD systems.

The rapid advancement of quantum technologies calls for the design and deployment of quantum-safe cryptographic protocols and communication networks. There are two primary approaches to achieving quantum-resistant security: quantum key distribution (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC). While each offers unique advantages, both have drawbacks in practical implementation. In this work, we introduce the pros and cons of these protocols and explore how they can be combined t...