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IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT)

Implementation of BB84 protocol by QPSK modulation using dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator

S. Agnolini, Philippe B. Gallion

Published Aug 10, 2005• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We propose to use a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator for the implementation of the Bennett and Brassard's protocol for quantum key distribution. This implementation allows optical QPSK signals generation with independent base and symbol choices. This signal generation fulfils the constant envelope constrain allowing fainted pulse or continuous variable quantum key distribution.

DOI
10.1109/icit.2004.1490292

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We propose to use a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator for the implementation of the Bennett and Brassard's protocol for quantum key distribution. This implementation allows optical QPSK signals generation with independent base and symbol choices. This signal generation fulfils the constant envelope constrain allowing fainted pulse or continuous variable quantum key distribution.
The security of communication systems is based on key cryptography techniques. Communications on a protected channel impose the exchange of a key between Alice and Bob. Eve, a third actor in the scene tries to obtain this key without making her presence notorious to the others. The quantum security results from the impossibility to Eve to duplicate successfully signals or to extract a significant part of them without giving evidence of her intervention. Since her intervention introduces important changes in the error rate of the signals received by Bob. These errors result from incompatible observations of the same quantum object, as well as phase measurements of a single photon coded on two different basis. A weak rate of error guarantees confidentiality of the key. The protocol BB84 authorizes the elaboration and the exchange of key between Alice and Bob, it requires four quantum states forming two basis, called A1 and A2 containing two symbols, named 0 and 1, each. The A1 and A2 bases are conjugated. This thesis presents for consideration a research and an experimental realization of a quantum key distribution system using the protocol BB84 by coding in phase on a single photon at l = 1,5 µm. The generation of this single photon is assured by an ILM laser. The optical pulses are strongly attenuated. The QPSK modulation satisfies independent choices of base and symbol assured by dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulators. Three coherent detection schemes are proposed and compared. The successive modifications to our system take to propose a one optical way quantum key distribution scheme by DQPSK coding.
We discuss possible modulation schemes to implement BB84 and B92 quantum key distribution protocols using frequency-coding method. We derive time evolution of quantum states of light in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer based optical intensity modulator. We then show that phase modulator-phase modulator (PM-PM) combination can be used to implement the B92 protocol and intensity modulator-intensity modulator (IM-IM) combination can be used to implement the BB84 protocol. However, the combinations-PM-IM or IM-PM-cannot be used to implement BB84 and B92 protocols using frequency-coding method. Finally, we discuss the security of frequency-coded implementation of B92 protocol.
This paper presents a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol named differential-quadrature-phase-shift (DQPS) QKD. A transmitter sends a coherent pulse train in which each pulse is phase modulated by ${0,\ensuremath{\pi}}$ ${\ensuremath{\pi}/2,3\ensuremath{\pi}/2}$, and a receiver measures it with either one of two asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers having phase biases of 0 and $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$, respectively. This scheme is devised such that the idea of the conventional Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol (BB84) is introduced to differential-phase-shift (DPS) QKD. Simulations show that the proposed scheme is robust against a sequential attack that is crucial eavesdropping to DPS-QKD.
To implement the BB84 decoy-state quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol over a lossy ground-satellite quantum uplink requires a source that has high repetition rate of short laser pulses, long term stability, and no phase correlations between pulses. We present a new type of telecom optical polarization and amplitude modulator, based on a balanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration, coupled to a polarization-preserving sum-frequency generation (SFG) optical setup, generating 532 nm photons with modulated polarization and amplitude states. The weak coherent pulses produced by SFG meet the challenging requirements for long range QKD, featuring a high clock rate of 76 MHz, pico-second pulse width, phase randomization, and 98% polarization visibility for all states. Successful QKD has been demonstrated using this apparatus with full system stability up to 160 minutes and channel losses as high 57 dB . We present the design and simulation of the hardware through the Mueller matrix and Stokes vector relations, together with an experimental implementation working in the telecom wavelength band. We show the utility of the complete system by performing high loss QKD simulations, and confirm that our modulator fulfills the expected performance.
Most experimental realizations of quantum key distribution are based on the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (the so-called BB84) protocol. In a typical optical implementation of this scheme, the sender uses an active source to produce the required BB84 signal states. While active state preparation of BB84 signals is a simple and elegant solution in principle, in practice passive state preparation might be desirable in some scenarios, for instance, in those experimental setups operating at high transmission rates. Passive schemes might also be more robust against side-channel attacks than active sources. Typical passive devices involve parametric down-conversion. In this paper, we show that both coherent light and practical single-photon sources are also suitable for passive generation of BB84 signal states. Our method does not require any externally driven element, but only linear optical components and photodetectors. In the case of coherent light, the resulting key rate is similar to the one delivered by an active source. When the sender uses practical single-photon sources, however, the distance covered by a passive transmitter might be longer than that of an active configuration.