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Journal of Optical Communications

Survey on quantum noise stream cipher implemented optical communication systems

Joseph Mariamichael, A. Albert Raj, Ravi Selvaraj

Published Feb 15, 2023• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract This survey presents on the implementations of Quantum Noise Stream Cipher or Quantum Steam Cipher with various modulation formats – like QAM, PSK. FSK, etc., in optical fiber communication systems – along with other pertinent implementation details. Quantum Stream Cipher can be provably secure in information theoretical terms, and it achieves improved security due its inherent (noisy) randomness. This paper presents also a brief review on its claimed improved security, along with the open issues.

DOI
10.1515/joc-2022-0057

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•Jan 1, 2004•8 citations
Abstract This survey presents on the implementations of Quantum Noise Stream Cipher or Quantum Steam Cipher with various modulation formats – like QAM, PSK. FSK, etc., in optical fiber communication systems – along with other pertinent implementation details. Quantum Stream Cipher can be provably secure in information theoretical terms, and it achieves improved security due its inherent (noisy) randomness. This paper presents also a brief review on its claimed improved security, along with the open issues.
Quantum Noise Stream Cipher (QNSC) has emerged as a physical-layer encryption technique that exploits quantum noise and non-orthogonal coherent-state modulation to secure optical communication. However, the security of QNSC relies exceedingly on the secrecy and freshness of its seed key. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), on the other hand, provides information-theoretically secure key exchange rooted in the laws of quantum mechanics. The convergence of these two paradigms, i.e., integrated QKD-QNSC architectures, offers a compelling solution to each of their limitations. In such integrated systems, QKD continuously supplies and refreshes the secret seed key that governs QNSC modulation. Thus, governing a unified security framework that couples provably secure key establishment with high-speed quantum-enhanced physical-layer encryption. This work presents a comprehensive review of QNSC systems, examining their operating principles, security models under various attacks, and their integration with QKD systems. We analyze the security interplay between the key generation and encryption layers and survey experimental demonstrations and architectural progress toward practical deployment. Furthermore, we identify the open challenges and future research directions that must be addressed to realize fully integrated, quantum-secured optical communication networks at a practical scale.
Among physical layer encryption schemes, the quantum noise stream cipher (QNSC) has garnered significant attention due to its compatibility with high-speed commercial fiber-optic communication systems. After careful analysis of the encryption scheme, we reveal that QNSC transmission systems exhibit a security vulnerability in their encoding scheme. This vulnerability limits quantum noise to alerting high-order information bits in plaintext-dependent regions, creating structured ciphertext concealment. Numerical simulation and experimental verification both indicate that an eavesdropper can use quantization-attack to crack this vulnerability. Existing security assessment methods will overestimate the system’s security under quantization-attack. In addition, system security demonstrates a strong linear dependence on the plaintext modulation format, rather than the ciphertext modulation format as is widely presumed. To further enhance system security, the probability distribution is further introduced into the encoding process of ciphertext. The experiment results show that we not only achieved random concealment of ciphertext by quantum noise but also enhanced the eavesdropper’s symbol error rate by ∼86 % and maximally expanded the key space of the QAM-QNSC system by 2 27.2 .
A Quantum Stream Cipher (QSC) using Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is presented to greatly increase the secure degree compared with ASK or PSK/QSC. We propose encoding multi-bit data in one symbol with a multi-bit basis state, resulting in QAM/QSC, which employs amplitude and phase encryption of the light beam simultaneously. A 16 QAM/QSC experiment at 10 Gbit/s was successfully carried out over 160 km using a digital coherent optical transmission technique, where 16 QAM data were encrypted in a constellation with 32 × 32~4096 × 4096 symbols. We show experimentally that the Number of Masked Signals (NMS) in the quantum noise Γ(QAM) for QAM/QSC becomes a square multiple larger than Γ(ASK) for ASK/QSC. Γ(QAM) exceeds 10,000. This result indicates that the QSC technique is more robust against eavesdroppers than ASK or PSK/QSC.
The quantum noise based direct encryption protocol Y-OO is expected to provide physical complexity based security, which is thought to be comparable to information theoretic security in mathematical cryptography, for the. physical layer of fiber-optic communication systems. So far, several randomization techniques for the quantum stream cipher by Y-OO protocol have been proposed, but most of them were developed under the assumption that phase shift keying is used as the modulation format. On the other hand, the recent progress in the experimental study on the intensity modulation based quantum stream cipher by Y-OO protocol raises expectations for its realization. The purpose of this paper is to present design and implementation methods of a composite model of the intensity modulation based quantum stream cipher with some randomization techniques. As a result this paper gives a viewpoint of how the Y-OO cryptosystem is miniaturized.
Abstract Data security is a key feature of future communications networks. Physical layer introduces rich physical mechanisms to increase the complexity of deciphering and provides extensive protection, but faces challenges in compatibility with commercial systems. Quantum noise stream cipher (QNSC) has been proposed as a promising solution to overcome this problem by fusing the stream cryptography regime with the quantum noise masking physical mechanism. However, it has limitations in terms of digital to analog conversion and clock data synchronization of ultra-high-order ciphertext as well as flexible control of masking noise. Here we report a 147.9-Gbps device-compatible quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) QNSC secure scheme over 75-km fiber. Thanks to delta-sigma modulator, the transmission of 220 × 220-order QAM-QNSC signal are established through the low-order digital signal. We develop a theoretical model for flexibly regulating the transmission rate and security performance. Broadband optical chaos introduces true randomness and acts on the masking noise.
In 2000, an attractive new quantum cryptography was discovered by H.P.Yuen based on quantum communication theory. It is applicable to direct encryption, for example quantum stream cipher based on Yuen protocol(Y-00), with high speeds and for long distance by sophisticated optical devices which can work under the average photon number per signal light pulse:<n>=1000sim10000<n> = 1000 \\sim 10000<n>=1000sim10000. In addition, it may provide information-theoretic security against known/chosen plaintext attack, which has no classical analogue. That is, one can provide secure communication, even the system has H(K)<<H(X)H(K) << H(X)H(K)<<H(X). In this paper, first, we give a brief review on the general logic of Yuen's theory. Then, we show concrete security analysis of quantum stream cipher to quantum individual measurement attacks. Especially by showing the analysis of Lo-Ko known plaintext attack, the feature of Y-00 is clarified. In addition, we give a simple experimental result on the advantage distillation by scheme consisting of intensity modulation/direct detection optical communication.