Single-Photon-Memory Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Secure Direct Communication-Part II: A Practical Protocol and its Secrecy Capacity

In Part I of this two-part letter on single-photon-memory measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication (SPMQC), we reviewed the fundamentals and evolution of quantum secure direct communication (QSDC). In this Part II, we propose a practical protocol and analyze its secrecy capacity. In order to eliminate the security loopholes resulting from practical detectors, the measurement-device-independent (MDI) QSDC protocol has been proposed. However, block-based transmission of quantum states is utilized in MDI-QSDC, which requires practical quantum memory that is still unavailable at the time of writing. For circumventing this impediment, we propose the SPMQC protocol for dispensing with high-performance quantum memory. The performance of the proposed protocol is characterized by simulations considering realistic experimental parameters, and the results show that it is feasible to implement SPMQC by relying on existing technology.

Automated summary

In this Part II, a practical protocol is proposed for single-photon-memory measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication (SPMQC) and its secrecy capacity is analyzed. The proposed SPMQC protocol eliminates security loopholes caused by practical detectors and overcomes the limitation of unavailable high-performance quantum memory. Simulations considering realistic experimental parameters show the feasibility of implementing SPMQC with existing technology.