Fully Quantum Hash Function

Abstract: We introduce a novel, \textit{fully} quantum hash (FQH) function within the quantum walk on a cycle framework. We incorporate deterministic quantum computation with a single qubit to replace classical post-processing, thus increasing the inherent security. Further, our proposed hash function exhibits zero collision rate and high reliability. We further show that it provides $ > 50\%$ avalanche on average, and is highly sensitive to the initial conditions. We show comparisons of several performance metrics for the proposed FQH with different settings as well as with existing protocols to prove its efficacy. FQH requires minimal quantum resources to produce a large hash value, providing security against the birthday attack. This innovative approach thus serves as an efficient hash function and lays the foundation for potential advancements in quantum cryptography by integrating the fully quantum hash generation protocol.