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International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks

Experimental demonstration of Subcarrier Multiplexed Quantum Key Distribution system feasibility

A. Ruiz-Alba, David C. Calvo, V. García-Muñoz, A. Martinez, Waldimar Amaya, Juan Guillermo Rozo Chicue, Jose Mora, J. Capmany

Published Jun 1, 2011• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We report our recent advances in the implementation of a BB84 quantum key distribution demonstrator based on subcarrier multiplexing. A thorough description of all the system modules is provided both in the classical and quantum regimes that are supported by experimental results. We demonstrate that maximum multiplexing gain is achieved when low modulation regime is considered thus fully exploiting the quantum multiplexing process.

DOI
10.1109/icton.2011.5971067

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We report our recent advances in the implementation of a BB84 quantum key distribution demonstrator based on subcarrier multiplexing. A thorough description of all the system modules is provided both in the classical and quantum regimes that are supported by experimental results. We demonstrate that maximum multiplexing gain is achieved when low modulation regime is considered thus fully exploiting the quantum multiplexing process.
We provide, to our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration of the feasibility of sending several parallel keys by exploiting the technique of subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) widely employed in microwave photonics. This approach brings several advantages such as high spectral efficiency compatible with the actual secure key rates, the sharing of the optical fainted pulse by all the quantum multiplexed channels reducing the system complexity, and the possibility of upgrading with wavelength division multiplexing in a two-tier scheme, to increase the number of parallel keys. Two independent quantum SCM channels featuring a sifted key rate of 10 Kb/s/channel over a link with quantum bit error rate <2% is reported.
A quantum key distribution system based on the subcarrier wave modulation method has been demonstrated which employs the BB84 protocol with a strong reference to generate secure bits at a rate of 16.5 kbit/s with an error of 0.5% over an optical channel of 10 dB loss, and 18 bits/s with an error of 0.75% over 25 dB of channel loss. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the highest channel loss reported for secure quantum key distribution using the subcarrier wave approach. A passive unidirectional scheme has been used to compensate for the polarization dependence of the phase modulators in the receiver module, which resulted in a high visibility of 98.8%. The system is thus fully insensitive to polarization fluctuations and robust to environmental changes, making the approach promising for use in optical telecommunication networks. Further improvements in secure key rate and transmission distance can be achieved by implementing the decoy states protocol or by optimizing the mean photon number used in line with experimental parameters.
We present the physical principles of a quantum key distribution system that opens the possibility of parallel quantum key distribution and, therefore, of a substantial improvement in the bit rate of such systems. Quantum mechanics allows for multiple measurements at different frequencies and thus we exploit this concept by extending the concept of frequency coding to the case where more than one radio-frequency subcarrier is used for independently encoding the bits onto an optical carrier. Taking advantage of subcarrier multiplexing techniques we demonstrate that the bit rate can be greatly improved as parallel key distribution is enabled.