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Opto-Electronics Review

Phase coding of information in the optical fibre sensor

M. Życzkowski, M. Karol, Norbert Pałka

Published Feb 27, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Determining the dependence of phase difference modulations between light pulses in a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to develop an optical system coding the information and working as an eavesdropping sensor for an optical fibre information exchange system. The basic challenge in the system development is to maintain stable operation in changing environmental conditions, as well as to ensure optimal parameters of the phase modulator. The system was tested for various many-kilometer long transmission lines of single-mode fibres. The research was focused on achieving the normative Bit Error Rate for the system in the 100 Mbit/s range (STM-1). Such a system can be used in commercial applications for the code key secure transmission in the physical layer of the link.

DOI
10.24425/opelre.2020.132496

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Determining the dependence of phase difference modulations between light pulses in a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to develop an optical system coding the information and working as an eavesdropping sensor for an optical fibre information exchange system. The basic challenge in the system development is to maintain stable operation in changing environmental conditions, as well as to ensure optimal parameters of the phase modulator. The system was tested for various many-kilometer long transmission lines of single-mode fibres. The research was focused on achieving the normative Bit Error Rate for the system in the 100 Mbit/s range (STM-1). Such a system can be used in commercial applications for the code key secure transmission in the physical layer of the link.
Current solutions used for protection of information transmitted in fibre optic networks are based on direct detection of fibre optic cable eavesdropping and encryption of transmitted information. Protection of fibre optic cables from physical intrusion in to the transmission channel is realized on dark optical fibres, not used in the transmission of information. Security of encrypted information is based on the assumption of limited computing power used for cryptanalysis, what with the introduction of operating quantum computers will cease to apply. So ideal solution for information protection is physical it coding that makes eavesdropping near to impossible, in the same time allows of constant monitoring of fibre physical integrity. The article describes the construction and principle of operation used in fibre optic pulse interferometer, that allows to detect mechanical disorders of fibre optic transmission line with simultaneous transmission of information. Operation of the system relies on encoding information in phase of optical radiation pulses and for monitoring the status of the transmission line by analysis polarization of radiation in interferometer. System configuration provides stabilized work of pulse interferometer over several kilometres, under varying environmental conditions. Unique capabilities of detection system enable the use of two independent criteria for alarm signal excitation. The aim of the study was to determine the security degree provided by system to protection of transmitted information in proposed arrangement.
Our system is based upon a Mach-Zender interferometer using phase modulation. Photons are generated by a 1.55 pm DFB pulsed laser diode operating with a repetition rate of 2 MHz. The pulses are strongly attenuated so that on average 0. I photons/clock cycle leaves the senders apparatus. Phase modulators. controlled by custom electronics, in the two interfering arms were used to encode the bit information. The signal is multiplexed with pulses from a 1.3 pm clock laser which serves as a timing reference. Cooled InGaAs avalanche photodiodes operating in Geiger mode are used to detect the single photons. It is imperative for operation over long fibres that the dark count rate in the single photon detector is as low as possible. Our detectors typically have a dark count probability of 3.2~10.~ er gate, along with a detection efficiency of 12% at 1.55 pm. This yields a Noise Equivalent Power of I .OXIO-'~ WHz- , whcch IS one of the lowest reported to date. R ' . The interferometer displayed a single photon interference fringe visibility between 99.1% and 99.7% for fibre lengths up to 65km. For longer fibre lengths the visibility falls, but remains around 96% at IOlkm, see Figure 1. The QBER, shown in Figure 2, remains virtually constant at around 3.6% for fibre length up to 50km, suggesting that the dominant contribution derives from inaccuracy in the phase modulation. Beyond 50km the QBER increases with fibre length, due to dark count noise. At 101 km, the QBER averaged over a 2-minute key transfer is typically 7. I %. This error rate is below the 1 I .5% limit, thus allowing us to perform error correction and privacy amplification to form a secure key. The sifted bit rate (shown in Figure 2) decreases with increasing fibre length at a rate of -0.20 dB/km, close to the specified value. At IOOkm the average bit rate was typically 15 Hz, sufficient to allow a cryptographic key to be transferred in several tens of seconds. 100
A new communication system exhibiting a double security level is demonstrated. Information coding is based on relative phase changes between consecutive time intervals of the light emitted from a highly coherent CW source. An imbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer whose time delay matches the intervals duration is used to decode the data. The first security level is related to the constant optical power in the transmission link. To further enhance the security, a low coherent source is used to send false data down the transmission link. Common mode rejection is used to separate the real signal from the false signal. This system provides a high signal-to-noise ratio as well as a low crosstalk in a wavelength division multiplexing network.
In this conference, we demonstrate a new communication system exhibiting a double security level. Information coding is based on differential phase shift keying of the light emitted from a highly coherent CW source. An imbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer whose time delay matches the bit duration is used to decode the data. Since the optical power is constant in the transmission link, security levels comparable with those obtained in coherence modulation may be achieved. To further enhance the security, a low coherent source is used to send false data down the transmission link. The discrimination between real and false signal is based on common mode rejection. A study of the signal to noise ratio achieved with this system is also discussed in this manuscript.
It is experimentally demonstrated that a long distance actively stabilised Mach-Zehnder fibre optical interferometer can be used to reliably implement the GV95 quantum cryptography protocol employing orthogonal states. A proof-of-principle experiment using an interferometer composed of 1 km of spooled optical fibres connecting Alice and Bob is performed. The active stabilisation against phase drifts is done with a classical channel wavelength-multiplexed with the quantum channel and a highly stable visibility implying a quantum bit error rate of 2.2 % is shown.
We have implemented an experimental setup in order to demonstrate the feasibility of time-coding protocols for quantum key distribution. Alice produces coherent 20-ns faint pulses of light at 853 nm. They are sent to Bob with delay 0 ns (encoding bit 0) or 10 ns (encoding bit 1). Bob directs at random the received pulses to two different arms. In the first one, a 300 ps resolution Si photon counter allows Bob to precisely measure the detection times of each photon in order to establish the key. Comparing them with the emission times of the pulses sent by Alice allows one to evaluate the quantum bit error rate (QBER). The minimum obtained QBER is 1.62%. The possible loss of coherence in the setup can be exploited by Eve to eavesdrop the line. Therefore, the second arm of Bob setup is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a 10 ns propagation delay between the two paths. Contrast measurement of the output beams allows one to measure the autocorrelation function of the received pulses that characterizes their average coherence. In the case of an ideal setup, the value expected with the pulses sent by Alice is 0.576. The experimental value of the pulses autocorrelation function is found to be 0.541. Knowing the resulting loss of coherence and the measured QBER, one can evaluate the mutual information between Alice and Eve and the mutual information between Alice and Bob, in the case of intercept-resend attacks and in the case of attacks with intrication. With our values, Bob has an advantage on Eve of 0.43 bit per pulse. The maximum possible QBER corresponding to equal informations for Bob and Eve is 5.8%. With the usual attenuation of fibres at 850 nm, it shows that secure key distribution is possible up to a distance of 2.75 km, which is sufficient for local links.