Abstract In this work, we present a novel authenticatedQuantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol employing maximallyentangled qubit pairs. In the absence of noise, we securelyauthenticate the well-known BB84 QKD scheme under twoassumptions: first, adversaries cannot simultaneously access pre-shared and non-pre-shared secret classical information, and sec-ond, adversaries cannot simultaneously access pre-shared secretclassical information and quantum memories held by legitimateparties. The main strength of this noiseless result is that accessto all secretly pre-shared classical information is insufficient forbreaching our scheme. Additionally, our protocol desirably allowsfor pre-shared secrecy reusage, leading to secret-key growing.In order to address noise, we simulate a photonic imple-mentation of our scheme, together with a storage model thataims to replicate the performance of cavity-enhanced Atomic-Frequency Comb (AFC) memories. Two methods are used todistinguish authentic entities from forgery attempts: on the onehand, a statistical approach is used after calibration of its definingparameter µ. Alternatively, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) isdesigned and trained to learn the underlying different structureof that input data coming from adversaries in comparison tothat one coming from legitimate parties. Both methods achievea correct classification rate larger than 0.80 for memory storagetime of 150 µs and a 1 km distance between parties.
Farré et al. (Wed,) studied this question.