Three-party authenticated lightweight quantum key distribution without pre-shared key between participants

This paper proposes a three-party authenticated lightweight quantum key distribution (TPALQKD) protocol. By utilizing a semi-honest third party (TP), the proposed protocol enables two lightweight participants to share a secret key without pre-share keys or establish any quantum channel between them. Compared with existing similar research, the proposed TPALQKD protocol reduces the quantum burden of participants, lowers the trustworthiness level required for the TP, and improves qubit efficiency. Furthermore, the proposed TPALQKD protocol has been extended to a quantum dialogue. The security analysis shows that the proposed protocol is robust against collective attacks.