Encrypted Qubits Can Be Cloned
We show that encrypted cloning of unknown quantum states is possible. Any number of encrypted clones of a qubit can be created through a unitary transformation, and each of the encrypted clones can be decrypted through a unitary transformation. The decryption of an encrypted clone consumes the decryption key; i.e., only one decryption is possible, in agreement with the no-cloning theorem. Encrypted cloning represents a new paradigm that provides a form of redundancy, parallelism, or scalability where direct duplication is forbidden by the no-cloning theorem. For example, a possible application of encrypted cloning is to enable encrypted quantum multicloud storage.
Authors
- Karl J. Friston
Institutions
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Perimeter Institute (CA)
- University of Electro-Communications (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-11-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/y4y1-1ll6
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.96