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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Secure Optical Communication Using Random Mode Mixing and Time-Reversal Symmetry in Multimode Fibers

Yaron Bromberg, Brandon Redding, Sébastien M. Popoff, Nissim Ofek, Hui W. Cao

Published Jan 1, 2014• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate an encryption method for transmission through multimode fibers. The encryption is provided by chaotic mode mixing, and time-reversal symmetry of counter-propagating light ensures that only an authorized party can decrypt the message.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_qels.2014.fth5a.4

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The light propagation through a multimode fiber is used to increase information security during data transmission without the need for cryptographic approaches. The use of an inverse precoding method in a multimode fiber-optic communication network is based on mode-dependent losses on the physical layer. This leads to an asymmetry between legitimate (Bob) and illegitimate (Eve) recipients of messages, resulting in significant SNR advantage for Bob. In combination with dynamic mode channel changes, there are defined hurdles for Eve to reconstruct a sent message even in a worst-case scenario in which she knows the channel completely. This is the first time that physical layer security has been investigated in a fiber optical network based on measured transmission matrices. The results show that messages can be sent securely using traditional communication techniques. The technology introduced is a step towards the development of cyber physical systems with increased security.
In conventional optical communication systems, the transmission signals are regular digital signals. Due to the openness of optical fiber networks, it is rather easy for eavesdroppers to obtain the transmission signals from the public fiber-link and then intercept the message directly. To address this crucial security challenge, in this work we propose a high-speed secure optical communication system in virtue of physical random temporal encryption based on private physical random phase modulation and phase-to-intensity conversion. The proposed physical random temporal encryption is performed by a module composed of a phase modulator (PM) and a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG), and the corresponding decryption is achieved with a similar module composed of an inverse-phase driven PM and an oppositedispersion CFBG. By distributing a constant-amplitude random-phase signal to the local semiconductor lasers deployed in the encryption module and decryption module, a pair of synchronized physical random PM driving signals that are not exchanged on public link can be independently generated, which guarantees the receiver end can correctly decrypt the original transmission message. Our numerical results demonstrate that with the proposed encryption scheme, the regular transmission signal is encrypted as a noise-like signal that can greatly enhance the security of message, and moreover, based on the private synchronized physical random phase modulation, the privacy of encryption and decryption are guaranteed, which prevents the eavesdroppers from intercepting transmission message. This work provides a promising strategy for the implement of high-speed high-security physical-layer optical communication.
Disorder and scattering in photonic systems have long been considered a nuisance that should be circumvented. Recently, disorder has been harnessed for a rapidly growing number of applications, including imaging, sensing, and spectroscopy. The chaotic dynamics and extreme sensitivity to external perturbations make random media particularly well-suited for optical cryptography. However, using random media for distribution of secret keys between remote users still remains challenging since it requires the users have access to the same scattering sample. Here, we utilize random mode mixing in long multimode fibers to generate and distribute keys simultaneously. Fast fluctuations in fiber mode mixing provide the source of randomness for key generation, and optical reciprocity guarantees that the keys at the two ends of the fiber are identical. We experimentally demonstrate the scheme using classical light and off-the-shelf components, opening the door for a practically secure key establishment at the physical layer of fiber-optic networks.
The ability to engineer the spatial wavefunction of photons has enabled a variety of quantum protocols for communication, sensing, and information processing. These protocols exploit the high dimensionality of structured light enabling the encodinng of multiple bits of information in a single photon, the measurement of small physical parameters, and the achievement of unprecedented levels of security in schemes for cryptography. Unfortunately, the potential of structured light has been restrained to free-space platforms in which the spatial profile of photons is preserved. Here, we make an important step forward to using structured light for fiber optical communication. We introduce a smart high-dimensional encryption protocol in which the propagation of spatial modes in multimode fibers is used as a natural mechanism for encryption. This provides a secure communication channel for data transmission. The information encoded in spatial modes is retrieved using artificial neural networks, which are trained from the intensity distributions of experimentally detected spatial modes. Our on-fiber communication platform allows us to use spatial modes of light for high-dimensional bit-by-bit and byte-by-byte encoding. This protocol enables one to recover messages and images with almost perfect accuracy. Our smart protocol for high-dimensional optical encryption in optical fibers has key implications for quantum technologies relying on structured fields of light, particularly those that are challenged by free-space propagation.