Encrypted-state quantum compilation scheme based on quantum circuit obfuscation for quantum cloud platforms

TL;DR

This paper introduces ECQCO, a secure quantum compilation scheme for cloud platforms that protects circuit information using quantum obfuscation and encryption, balancing security with computational efficiency.

Contribution

It presents the first secure compilation scheme for quantum cloud platforms combining quantum homomorphic encryption and circuit obfuscation techniques.

Findings

Achieves up to 0.7 TVD and 0.88 GED in security metrics.

Maintains circuit fidelity within 1% despite added security measures.

Provides information-theoretic security under the quantum random oracle model.

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of quantum computing, quantum compilation has become a crucial layer connecting high-level algorithms with physical hardware. In quantum cloud computing, compilation is performed on the cloud platforms, which expose user circuits to potential risks such as structural leakage and output predictability. To address these issues, we propose the encrypted-state quantum compilation scheme based on quantum circuit obfuscation (ECQCO), the first secure compilation scheme tailored for the co-location of compilers and quantum hardware for quantum cloud platforms. It applies quantum homomorphic encryption to conceal output states and instantiates a structure obfuscation mechanism based on quantum indistinguishability obfuscation, effectively protecting both functionality and topology of the circuit. Additionally, an adaptive decoupling obfuscation algorithm is designed to suppress potential idle errors while inserting pulse operations. The proposed scheme achieves information-theoretic security and guarantees computational indistinguishability under the quantum random oracle model. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that ECQCO achieves a total variation distance (TVD) of up to 0.7 and a normalized graph edit distance (GED) of 0.88, enhancing compilation-stage security. Moreover, it introduces only a slight increase in circuit depth, while keeping the average fidelity change within 1\%, thus achieving a practical balance between security and efficiency.