Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Secure Direct Communication

Abstract: Quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) is the technology to transmit secret information directly through a quantum channel without neither key nor ciphertext. It provides us with a secure communication structure that is fundamentally different from the one that we use today. In this Letter, we report the first measurement-device-independent(MDI) QSDC protocol with sequences of entangled photon pairs and single photons. It eliminates security loopholes associated with the measurement device. In addition, the MDI technique doubles the communication distance compared to those without using the technique. We also give a protocol with linear optical Bell-basis measurement, where only two of the four Bell-basis states could be measured. When the number of qubit in a sequence reduces to 1, the MDI-QSDC protocol reduces to a deterministic MDI quantum key distribution protocol, which is also presented in the Letter.