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IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM)

High Data Rate Quantum Noise Protected Encryption Over Long Distances

Tom Banwell, P. Toliver, J.C. Young, J. Hodge, Monika Rauch, Matthew S. Goodman, Gregory S. Kanter, Eric Corndorf, V.S. Grigoryan, C. Liang, Prem Kumar

Published Mar 22, 2006• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on a new physical layer optical encryption approach based on quantum noise limited optical signals and M-ary optical phase shift keying that operates at high data rates. In contrast to established encryption methods that rely solely on deterministic algorithms, this system utilizes quantum noise to realize a randomized cipher. Keyed M-ary optical phase modulation is used to encrypt quantum-noise limited mesoscopic signals (50k photons/bit) that are compatible with current directions in optical networking: the physically encrypted signals may be optically amplified, routed through optical switches, and can propagate over long distances approaching 1000 km. We describe the approach in detail and report on results of experiments in which these encrypted signals were transmitted over an 850 km network at 622 Mb/s. Bit-error rate measurements were performed under varying network conditions. Our paper concludes with the engineering challenges for extending this approach to 2.5 Gb/s and beyond and how these are being addressed

DOI
10.1109/milcom.2005.1605716

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We report on a new physical layer optical encryption approach based on quantum noise limited optical signals and M-ary optical phase shift keying that operates at high data rates. In contrast to established encryption methods that rely solely on deterministic algorithms, this system utilizes quantum noise to realize a randomized cipher. Keyed M-ary optical phase modulation is used to encrypt quantum-noise limited mesoscopic signals (50k photons/bit) that are compatible with current directions in optical networking: the physically encrypted signals may be optically amplified, routed through optical switches, and can propagate over long distances approaching 1000 km. We describe the approach in detail and report on results of experiments in which these encrypted signals were transmitted over an 850 km network at 622 Mb/s. Bit-error rate measurements were performed under varying network conditions. Our paper concludes with the engineering challenges for extending this approach to 2.5 Gb/s and beyond and how these are being 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 will describe keyed communication in quantum noise (KCQ) and how it can be used for either data encryption or key generation. Specifically, we will focus on the AlphaEta protocol for data encryption where the role of quantum noise will be discussed. Additionally, the potential of using classical noise to enhance security via deliberate signal randomization (DSR) will be investigated. We will also investigate the effect of unwanted impairments, such as nonlinearities in a wavelength-division-multiplexed fiber transmission system, and how they affect the ultimate allowable propagation distance. Our simulations and experiments suggest that AlphaEta-protocol based physical-layer encryption is compatible with long-haul optical transmission systems operating at Gb/s data rates.
The Internet plays an essential role in modern societies and in the amount of sensitive data transported over the optical networks that shows its' importance has increased drastically. Therefore, it is critical to develop data protection schemes for optical fiber communications to provide user security. The Y-00 quantum-noise randomized stream cipher that employs extremely high-order modulation and restricts an attacker's interception of ciphertext is a practical candidate for providing data protection. In this article, we introduce the operation principle of the Y-00 cipher with respect to data encryption and decryption. The Y-00 cipher combines the mathematical encryption of multi-level signaling and physical randomness, and provides a high level of security to the physical layer of optical communications and a high communication performance. We also present the noise masking phenomenon of the Y-00 cipher with intensity modulation (IM). This noise masking is generated by shot noise, i.e., quantum noise and additive noise such as amplified spontaneous emission noise. The noise masking phenomenon fails an attacker's interception of the ciphertext. The secrecy of the IM Y-00 cipher is also discussed, and an approximate analytical solution is introduced for evaluating the probability of the attackers accurately guessing the ciphertext. Finally, the secrecy of a 1,000-km transmission system is experimentally demonstrated with the Y-00 cipher transceiver at data rate of 1.5-Gb/s using the derived analytical solution to deduce the high secrecy of the entire transmission system.
Providing physical layer security at the lowest network layer in fiber-optic communication systems is a technical challenge worldwide. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a pure hardware optical encryption scheme based on temporal spreading and self-feedback phase encryption for high-speed and long-distance physical-layer secure optical communication. A record high bit-rate-distance product of 6400 Gb/s km is successfully achieved by the secure transmission of a 32 Gb/s on-off-keying modulated confidential signal over a 200 km optical fiber link. The demonstrated scheme is fully compatible with conventional optical transmission systems and can be operated in a pluggable manner, which may pave a new path to ultra-high-speed physical-layer secure optical communication in the future.
We propose and demonstrate an advanced optical modulation format that makes use of both spectral and temporal phase encodings (2-D) for applications requiring exceptional security. The method combines modulation techniques used in direct-sequence spread-spectrum coding, spectral-phase encoding, and M-ary phase-shift keying with codes generated using cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generators. The wideband transmission signal is very difficult for an eavesdropper to record or analyze. Signal-to-noise ratio limitations imposed by quantum effects enhance the security further. The properties of the transmitted signal make it especially useful for physics-based key expansion systems. We have successfully used this setup to transmit encrypted 155 Mb/s data over 70 km of fiber with a BER value of 4E-5.
A record-long 10,118-km fiber transmission with physical layer encryption is demonstrated utilizing a Y-00 cipher based on signal masking by quantum (shot) noise. The Y-00 cipher enables symmetric-key data encryption to ensure the security of the physical layer of optical communications. Irreducible secrecy without significant negative impact on transmission performance is achieved by the synergistic effect of combining seed-key-based high-order modulation and truly random shot noise inevitable in optical detection. This paper reports a comprehensive study of applying a phase-shift-keying (PSK) Y-00 cipher for ultra-long haul fiber transmission. Theoretical analysis shows that security-enhanced transmission over transoceanic-distance (>10,000 km) fiber is feasible when the quadrature PSK data signal is encrypted by converting to a PSK signal with 218 levels. Subsequently, 10,118-km standard single-mode fiber transmission of 48-Gbit/s line-rate dual-polarization PSK Y-00 cipher with 218 levels is experimentally demonstrated. An adequate signal quality above the Q-factor threshold of soft decision forward error correction is achieved together with sufficient signal masking by shot noise, yielding balanced transmission performance and high security in an ultra-long-haul PSK Y-00 cipher transmission system.