Blind quantum computation (BQC) enables clients with limited quantum capabilities to protect the privacy of inputs, outputs and algorithms during the computation process. However, if a client’s private information is exposed to a server after the computation, the server can deduce the client’s output or even input. Quantum encryption with certified deletion (QECD) offers a potential solution by enabling the data owner to generate a deletion certificate, making the original plaintext inaccessible, provided the certificate is valid. Nevertheless, current QECD can only handle classical data and cannot be applied to BQC with quantum inputs. This paper first introduces the concept of certified deletion for quantum states and then proposes a single-client BQC protocol with certified deletion, where the client can use the classical certificate generated by the server to confirm whether her quantum inputs have been deleted after computation.We also give a specific example and simulate it using Qiskit to show its feasibility. In addition, the proposed protocol can also be extended to a multi-client environment in which honest clients request certified deletion if any client disconnects or behaves maliciously, thereby terminating the protocol and protecting their privacy.

Quantum homomorphic encryption (QHE) can allow clients to directly perform quantum computation on encrypted data with the assistance of a remote quantum server. However, existing QHE schemes often overlook the crucial property of verifiability which enables clients to validate the correctness of computation results provided by the server. In this paper, we propose a verifiable QHE scheme based on the universal quantum gate set {H,P,Toffoli}. At first, a specialized gadget is designed to eliminate the errors that may arise during the homomorphic evaluation of non-Clifford Toffoli gates in a non-interactive manner. Furthermore, the designed gadget is versatile and can be seamlessly integrated into an existing QHE scheme that implements quantum gates in another universal quantum gate set {H,T,CNOT} to homomorphically evaluate more quantum gates. Subsequently, a verifiable method is introduced to the QHE scheme based on {H,P,Toffoli} for the client to detect whether the server is honest during the homomorphic computation by employing three types of indistinguishable quantum circuits.

Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) can train parameterized quantum circuits via classical optimizers to find approximate solutions to some important problems. They can overcome the limitations of existing quantum technologies only allowing for a few qubits and small circuit depth and are considered as one of the most promising methods for achieving quantum advantages in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. In this paper, we propose secure delegated VQAs by utilizing quantum homomorphic encryption (QHE) for users with limited quantum power to delegate the task of running VQAs to remote quantum servers while still keeping the training data private. Firstly, a client-friendly QHE scheme that allows quantum servers to perform calculation on encrypted data is proposed to be suitable for VQAs. Then, delegated VQAs based on the given QHE scheme are presented, where servers can train the ansatz circuit using the encrypted data. Finally, a delegated variational quantum classifier to identify handwritten digit images is given as a specific example of delegated VQAs and simulated on the cloud platform of Original Quantum to show the feasibility. Secure delegated VQAs will provide significant technical support for future quantum cloud services.

Blind quantum computation (BQC) provides a solution for clients with limited quantum capabilities to delegate their quantum computational tasks to remote quantum servers while keeping their own data private. In this paper, we first propose three multi-party verifiable blind quantum computation (MPVBQC) protocols, each of which can handle one type of clients with certain simple quantum capabilities such as making single-qubit measurements, preparing single qubits, or performing a few single-qubit gates. Then a flexible and hybrid MPVBQC framework for multi-type clients in quantum networks is given by combining the three proposed MPVBQC protocols. It simultaneously allows at least three types of clients in quantum networks to achieve BQC depending on their own quantum devices. Furthermore, all the proposed protocols can achieve identity authentication, resist both insider and outsider attacks, and be verifiable which means that the clients can verify the correctness of their computational results.

Recommendation has become especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic as a significant number of people rely on online shopping from home. Existing recommendation algorithms, designed to address issues like cold start and data sparsity, often overlook the time constraints of users. Specifically, users expect to receive recommendations for products of interest in the shortest possible time. To address this challenge, we propose a novel collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm that leverages the advantages of quantum computing circuits based on data reconstruction. This approach allows for the rapid identification of users similar to the target user, thereby improving recommendation speed. In our method, we utilize the information of known users to linearly reconstruct that of the target users, forming a relational matrix. Subsequently, we employ \(l_{2,1}-\) norm and \(l_{1}-\) norm to sparsely constrain the relationship matrix, deducing the weight of each known user. The final step involves providing similar recommendations to target users based on these weights. Furthermore, we implement the proposed algorithm using a quantum circuit, enabling exponential acceleration. The final weight matrix is derived from the quantum state outputted by the circuit. The speed of this process is theoretically demonstrated in detail. Experimental results indicate that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG). Compared to state-of-the-art comparison algorithms, the proposed algorithm achieves the fastest recommendation speed across eight public datasets.

Multiparty delegated quantum computation (MDQC) allows multiple clients with limited quantum capability to jointly complete a quantum computational task with the aid of an untrusted quantum server. But in existing MDQC protocols, the verifiability that clients should verify whether the server executed the protocol correctly and gave correct results was not handled. Therefore, in this paper, we improve a typical MDQC protocol to enable clients to verify the correctness of computation by inserting trap qubits and develop a novel method to enforce clients to send qubits honestly while avoiding the positions of trap qubits being leaked to the server. The security and verifiability of the improved MDQC protocol are also analyzed. In addition, a specific example of the proposed verifiable MDQC protocol is given and simulated on IBM’s quantum platform.

Quantum blockchain is expected to offer an alternative to classical blockchain to resist malicious attacks laughed by future quantum computers. Although a few quantum blockchain schemes have been constructed, their efficiency is low and unable to meet application requirements due to the fact that they lack of a suitable consensus mechanism. To tackle this issue, a consensus mechanism called quantum delegated proof of stake (QDPoS) is constructed by using quantum voting to provide fast decentralization for the quantum blockchain scheme at first. Then an efficient scheme is proposed for quantum blockchain based on QDPoS, where the classical information is initialized as a part of each single quantum state and these quantum states are entangled to form the chain. Compared with previous methods, the designed quantum blockchain scheme is more complete and carried out with higher efficiency, which greatly contributes to better adapting to the challenges of the quantum era.