Source-independent quantum secret sharing with entangled photon pair networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a source-independent quantum secret sharing protocol using entangled photon pairs, achieving high efficiency and security in quantum networks without relying on multipartite entanglement generation.

Contribution

The authors propose a novel source-independent QSS protocol that maintains high key rates regardless of participant number, with proven unconditional security.

Findings

Key rate nearly independent of participant number

Unconditional security against eavesdroppers established

Suitable for large-scale quantum networks

Abstract

The large-scale deployment of quantum secret sharing (QSS) in quantum networks is currently challenging due to the requirements for the generation and distribution of multipartite entanglement states. Here we present an efficient source-independent QSS protocol utilizing entangled photon pairs in quantum networks. Through the post-matching method, which means the measurement events in the same basis are matched, the key rate is almost independent of the number of participants. In addition, the unconditional security of our QSS against internal and external eavesdroppers can be proved by introducing an equivalent virtual protocol. Our protocol has great performance and technical advantages in future quantum networks.