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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Experimental auto-compensating multi-user quantum key distribution network using a wavelength-addressed bus line architecture

Eric Donkor

Published May 8, 2012• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A six-user quantum key distribution network based on the auto-compensating plug & play scheme is experimentally demonstrated. The network, which has a bus line topology, uses the BB84 protocol to transmit cryptographic keys encoded unto the phase states of highly attenuated laser light to distances of up to 30.9 km of standard telecommunication-grade fiber. Each user on the network is assigned a unique wavelength for communication with the network server. The quantum bit error rate and sifted key rate measured compares favorably with theory.

DOI
10.1117/12.924107

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A six-user quantum key distribution network based on the auto-compensating plug & play scheme is experimentally demonstrated. The network, which has a bus line topology, uses the BB84 protocol to transmit cryptographic keys encoded unto the phase states of highly attenuated laser light to distances of up to 30.9 km of standard telecommunication-grade fiber. Each user on the network is assigned a unique wavelength for communication with the network server. The quantum bit error rate and sifted key rate measured compares favorably with theory.
A six-user quantum key distribution network implemented on a bus topology is experimentally demonstrated. The network employs the BB84 protocol to transmit cryptographic keys encoded unto the phase states of highly attenuated laser light to distances of up to 31 km in a standard telecommunication-grade fiber. Each user on the network is assigned a unique wavelength for communication with the network server at a time. The measured quantum bit error rate and sifted key rate compare favorably with theoretical results
A six-user quantum key distribution over a bus network spanning a total distance 30km of standard telecommunication-grade fiber is demonstrated. Each user on the network has one unique address wavelength channel for establishing secure quantum cryptographic keys with a central network server. The address wavelengths are all in the C-band region of between 1553 nm and 1557 nm, making the system compatible with present fiber-optic communication network infrastructures. The quantum bit error rate measurements made on the network agree favorably with theoretically calculated values.
A complete fiber-based polarization encoding quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on the BB84 protocol has been developed at National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). The system can be operated at a sifted key rate of more than 4 Mbit/s over optical fiber of length 1 km and mean photon number 0.1. The quantum channel uses 850 nm photons from attenuated high speed VCSELs and the classical channel uses 1550 nm light from normal commercial coarse wavelength division multiplexing devices. Sifted-key rates and quantum error rates at different transmission rates are measured as a function of distance (fiber length). A polarization auto-compensation module has been developed and utilized to recover the polarization state and to compensate for temporal drift. An automatic timing alignment device has also been developed to quickly handle the initial configuration of quantum channels so that detection events fall into the correct timing window. These automated functions make the system more practical for integration into existing optical local area networks.
In recent years quantum information research has lead to the discovery of a number of remarkable new paradigms for information processing and communication. These developments include quantum cryptography schemes that offer unconditionally secure information transport guaranteed by quantum-mechanical laws. Such potentially disruptive security technologies could be of high strategic and economic value in the future. Two major issues confronting researchers in this field are the transmission range (typically <100km) and the key exchange rate, which can be as low as a few bits per second at long optical fiber distances. This paper describes further research of an approach to significantly enhance the key exchange rate in an optical fiber system at distances in the range of 1-20km. We will present results on a number of application scenarios, including point-to-point links and multi-user networks. Quantum key distribution systems have been developed, which use standard telecommunications optical fiber, and which are capable of operating at clock rates of up to 2GHz. They implement a polarization-encoded version of the B92 protocol and employ vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with emission wavelengths of 850 nm as weak coherent light sources, as well as silicon single-photon avalanche diodes as the single photon detectors. The point-to-point quantum key distribution system exhibited a quantum bit error rate of 1.4%, and an estimated net bit rate greater than 100,000 bits-1 for a 4.2 km transmission range.