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International Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings

High-speed secure key distribution based on chaos synchronization and optical frequency comb technology

Ziyang Ma, Qihua Li, Qiongqiong Wu, Zhensen Gao

Published Jan 21, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Secure key distribution is one of the most crucial issues for the security of communication systems. However, it is extremely challenging to realize the gigabit key distribution required for high-speed secure communication. Targeting high-speed secure key distribution, we propose a novel scheme based on chaos synchronization and optical frequency comb technology. By the multi-channel multiplexing, final security key rate is greatly extended to gigabit. The feasibility and performance of the proposed high-speed secure key distribution scheme are verified by numerical simulations.

DOI
10.1117/12.2626402

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arXiv:2004.08586•Light Science & Applications•Aug 29, 2021•111 citations
Secure key distribution is one of the most crucial issues for the security of communication systems. However, it is extremely challenging to realize the gigabit key distribution required for high-speed secure communication. Targeting high-speed secure key distribution, we propose a novel scheme based on chaos synchronization and optical frequency comb technology. By the multi-channel multiplexing, final security key rate is greatly extended to gigabit. The feasibility and performance of the proposed high-speed secure key distribution scheme are verified by numerical simulations.
High speed physical secure key distribution in a classical optical fiber channel is unprecedentedly desired for modern secure communication, but it still remains a worldwide technical challenge. In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel high-speed physical secure key distribution scheme based on chaotic optical signal processing and private hardware modules, which employs chaotic self-carrier phase modulation for chaotic bandwidth expansion and time-delayed shift keying of commonly driven synchronized optical chaos for physical layer security. In this scheme, the entropy source rate of synchronized chaos output from two remote response lasers is greatly expanded by chaotic self-carrier delayed nonlinear phase disturbance, which facilitates high speed key extraction from the entropy source with guaranteed randomness. Moreover, a synchronization recovery time of sub-nanosecond is achieved by dynamic keying of the chaotic delay time after chaos synchronization to accelerate the key distribution rate. Based on the proposed scheme, a high physical key distribution rate of 2.1 Gb/s over 40 km is successfully demonstrated in the experiment. The proposed solution provides a promising strategy for future high-speed key distribution based on chaotic optical signal processing and classical fiber channel.
Secure key distribution based on chaos synchronization has attracted more and more attention due to its high-speed and multi-dimensional security. However, the distribution rate is constrained by the synchronization recovery time, remaining lower than the requirements of modern communication systems. Here, we proposed and simulated a parallel key distribution scheme based on injection-wavelength-shift keying chaos synchronization of Fabry-Pérot lasers. Synchronization can be achieved when the wavelengths of the injection signals are the same. The linewidth of the injection signal covers two modes of the Fabry-Pérot lasers, and then two single-mode laser signals can be generated through the subsequent single-mode filtering to be used as independent entropy sources. The random key sequences extracted from the single-mode signals are theoretically consistent when synchronized, thus the parallel secure key distribution is realized. Moreover, the Fabry-Pérot lasers are not equipped with a feedback loop, so the synchronization recovery time is only around 150 ps. Due to the benefits of the parallel key distribution and the shortened synchronization recovery time, the distribution rate is increased to 670.97 Mbit/s under the same-frequency extraction method and to 7.64 Gbit/s under the frequency-multiplication extraction method. This scheme provides a candidate for higher-speed physical key distribution.
Correlated random bit generation (CRBG) plays an important role in secure communication, particularly for secure key distribution. In this work, we propose and numerically demonstrate a scheme of CRBG based on multi-channel broadband entropy sources and parallel filtering. In this scheme, a chaotic optical frequency comb generator is employed to produce a chaotic frequency comb with multi-channel low-correlated wideband chaos. Based on the commonly driven induced synchronization between two closed-loop distributed feedback lasers and chaotic frequency comb generation, synchronized multi-channel wideband chaos is achieved. Then, parallel filtering is implemented by utilizing an arrayed-waveguide grating to divide the chaotic frequency comb into multi-channel sub-carrier chaos with different wavelengths. To reduce the correlation among adjacent channels and improve the chaos complexity, beating frequency processing with different delay times among adjacent chaotic sub-carriers is performed to get several different sets of chaotic output, among which an enhanced bandwidth over 20 GHz and low correlations are obtained. Moreover, the correlation between the chaotic output and the driving signal can be further suppressed, indicating that the security of the scheme is guaranteed. Multi-channel high-speed CRBG with a total generation rate of 16 Gb/s is successfully achieved at two legitimate users after transmission, with the randomness of multi-channel correlated bit generation verified using a test suite from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The proposed scheme may provide a way for high-speed multi-channel parallel correlated random bits based on commercial components, which could potentially find applications in future secure optical communication systems.
Secure distribution of high-speed digital encryption/decryption keys over a classical fiber channel is strongly pursued for realizing perfect secrecy communication systems. However, it is still challenging to achieve a secret key rate in the order of tens of gigabits per second to be comparable with the bit rate of commercial fiber-optic systems. In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel solution for high-speed secure key distribution based on temporal steganography and private chaotic phase scrambling in the classical physical layer. The encryption key is temporally concealed into the background noise in the time domain and randomly phase scrambled bit-by-bit by a private chaotic signal, which provides two layers of enhanced security to guarantee the privacy of key distribution while providing a high secret key rate. We experimentally achieved a record classical secret key rate of 10 Gb/s with a bit error rate lower than the hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) over a 40 km standard single mode fiber. The proposed solution holds great promise for achieving high-speed key distribution in the classical fiber channel by combining steganographic transmission and chaotic scrambling.
The secure key generation and distribution (SKGD) are unprecedentedly important for a modern secure communication system. This paper proposes what we believe to be a novel scheme of high-speed key distribution based on interference spectrum-shift keying with signal mutual modulation in commonly driven chaos synchronization. In this scheme, delay line interferometers (DLI) are utilized to generate two low-correlation interference spectra from commonly driven synchronous chaos, and then a 2 × 2 optical switch can effectively change the relationship between the two interference spectra in post-processing by shifting the states of the switch. The signals then undergo electro-optic nonlinear transformation through a hardware module, which includes a signal mutually modulating module (SMMM) and a dispersion component. This optimization significantly enhances the entropy source rate of synchronized chaos from both legitimate users. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of DLIs and electro-optic nonlinear transformation module, the key space of the proposed scheme is remarkably improved. In comparison to traditional chaotic drive-response architectures, the scheme effectively suppresses residual correlation. A 6.7 Gbit/s key distribution rate with a bit error rate below 3.8 × 10 −3 is experimentally demonstrated over a 40 km single-mode fiber (SMF).
Abstract High-speed physical key distribution is diligently pursued for secure communication. In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme of high-speed key distribution using mode-shift keying chaos synchronization between two multi-longitudinal-mode Fabry–Perot lasers commonly driven by a super-luminescent diode. Legitimate users dynamically select one of the longitudinal modes according to private control codes to achieve mode-shift keying chaos synchronization. The two remote chaotic light waveforms are quantized to generate two raw random bit streams, and then those bits corresponding to chaos synchronization are sifted as shared keys by comparing the control codes. In this method, the transition time, i.e., the chaos synchronization recovery time is determined by the rising time of the control codes rather than the laser transition response time, so the key distribution rate is improved greatly. Our experiment achieved a 0.75-Gbit/s key distribution rate with a bit error rate of 3.8 × 10 −3 over 160-km fiber transmission with dispersion compensation. The entropy rate of the laser chaos is evaluated as 16 Gbit/s, which determines the ultimate final key rate together with the key generation ratio. It is therefore believed that the method pays a way for Gbit/s physical key distribution.