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Progress in optics

Signal and Quantum Noise in Optical Communications and Cryptography

Philippe B. Gallion, Francisco Javier Mendieta, Shifeng Jiang

Published Jan 1, 2009• 20 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1016/s0079-6638(08)00005-x

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We present an application of coherent homodyne detection to the problem of low photon number communications and cryptography. As the coherent demodulation of an optical field requires the measurement of its (non commutating) inphase and quadrature components, we present the structure and operation of an 8-port optical hybrid comprising 2 balanced homodyne detection structures, for the simultaneous measurement of the 2 quadratures. We analyze this receiver operating with a strong local oscillator field, when the received field is in weak coherent states, with digital phase modulation: we obtain the homodyne statistics and the uncertainty product in the presence of vacuum noises from the input signal port and unused ports and discuss the increase in uncertainty due to the simultaneous measurements of the quadratures. We obtain the signal to noise ratio as well of the bit error rate performance for binary phase shift keying and discuss the departure from the standard quantum limit.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Sep 26, 2009•2 citations
Optical direct detection usually operates far above the quantum limit, due to the high thermal noise level of PIN photodiodes. For signal energy at the quantum level, the thermal effects in photon counters are also a strong limitation. The optical amplification or the heterodyne detection of the 2 quadratures of the field, widely used in high bit rate and long haul optical systems, overcome this limitation at the expense of a minimum 3db noise figure. By allowing a noise free mixing gain, as well as single quadrature measurements, the balanced homodyne receiver is allowed to reach quantum noise limited operation. The aim of this paper is to review the different quantum receiver implementations and to compare the minimum signal energy required to achieve a given bit error rate, or a given bit erasure rate, in high bit rate communications and quantum communications. Application to quantum cryptography will be also addressed.
We describe an emerging method of encryption suitable for high-speed optical communication networks. This encryption protocol combines traditional electronic cryptographic algorithms with the physical effect of optical noise of quantum origin to create a highly secure method of secret communications. The resulting optical signal is compatible with today's high speed fiber optic infrastructure including optical amplification and add/drop multiplexing. Systems implementing this protocol can be constructed with common commercially available components. We describe experimental results obtained with a 2.5 Gb/s system. The encrypted signal is shown to travel error-free through >500 km of optical fiber. Simulations show that reaches and data rates consistent with modern long haul optical networks are attainable.
We present an application of coherent homodyne detection to the problem of low photon number communications and cryptography. As the coherent demodulation of an optical field requires the measurement of its (non commutating) inphase and quadrature components, we present the structure and operation of an 8-port optical hybrid comprising 2 balanced homodyne detection structures, for the simultaneous measurement of the 2 quadratures. We analyze this receiver operating with a strong local oscillator field, when the received field is in weak coherent states, with digital phase modulation: we obtain the homodyne statistics and the uncertainty product in the presence of vacuum noises from the input signal port and unused ports and discuss the increase in uncertainty due to the simultaneous measurements of the quadratures. We obtain the signal to noise ratio as well of the bit error rate performance for binary phase shift keying and discuss the departure from the standard quantum limit.