IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
QAM Quantum Noise Stream Cipher Transmission Over 100 km With Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution
Masataka Nakazawa, Masato Yoshida, Toshihiko Hirooka, Keisuke Kasai, Takuya Hirano, Tsubasa Ichikawa, Ryo Namiki
Abstract
We report the first on-line high-speed and large-capacity secure optical communication system. This was realized by combining a quadrature amplitude modulation/quantum noise stream cipher technology where a coherent multi-level optical signal is hidden in quantum noise and a quantum key distribution technology where secure key delivery is realized with an extremely weak laser light comparable to a single photon. In our security analysis, we adopt a realistic assumption, namely, that an adversary does not have a lossless fiber. To show the advantage of this scheme, we performed a 128 QAM, 70-Gbit/s single-channel transmission over 100 km with a spectral efficiency of as high as 10.3 bits/s/Hz. This is the fastest data rate and highest spectral efficiency yet achieved in quantum cryptography with a realistic assumption.