Robust quantum secure direct communication and authentication protocol against decoherence noise based on six-qubit DF state

By using six-qubit decoherence-free (DF) states as quantum carriers and decoy states, a robust quantum secure direct communication and authentication (QSDCA) protocol against decoherence noise is proposed. Four six-qubit DF states are used in the process of secret transmission, however only the |0'> state is prepared. The other three six-qubit DF states can be obtained by permuting the outputs of the setup for |0'>. By using the |0'> state as the decoy state, the detection rate and the qubit error rate reach 81.3%, and they will not change with the noise level. The stability and security are much higher than those of the ping–pong protocol both in an ideal scenario and a decoherence noise scenario. Even if the eavesdropper measures several qubits, exploiting the coherent relationship between these qubits, she can gain one bit of secret information with probability 0.042.