Quantum Bidirectional Secure Direct Communication via Entanglement Swapping

In light of a quantum secure direct communication （QSDC） scheme using entanglement swapping Chin. Phys. Lett. 22 （2005）18], by introducing additional local operations for encoding, we propose a bidirectional QSDC （BQSDC） protocol, in which two legitimate users can simultaneously exchange their respective messages. The rule for the users to retrieve his/her partner＇s messages is derived explicitly in the most general case. Eve＇s commonly used attack method has been discussed and can be detected with the security checking process.