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Photonics

Multiplexing Quantum and Classical Channels of a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) System by Using the Attenuation Method

Ondřej Klíčník, Petr Münster, Tomáš Horváth

Published Nov 16, 2023• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The primary goal in this paper is to verify the possibility of combining a quantum channel into a single optical fiber with other classical channels by using the so-called attenuation method. Since the quantum channel is very weak in terms of power, combining it into a single fiber with much more powerful classical channels is challenging. Thus, sufficiently high-quality filtering is important to avoid possible crosstalk. A second and more difficult problem to address is the interference caused by Raman noise, which increases with the fiber length and is also dependent on the input power of the classical channel. Thus, in this paper the focus is on the possibility of suppressing the Raman noise effect, both in advance by means of wavelength positioning and by means of installed optical components. Such phenomena must be considered in the route design, as the quantum channel must be placed at a suitable wavelength with respect to the classical channels. The influence of other nonlinear phenomena has been neglected. In this paper, a practical experiment aimed at building a fully functional multiplexed quantum key distribution link is also described.

DOI
10.3390/photonics10111265

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The primary goal in this paper is to verify the possibility of combining a quantum channel into a single optical fiber with other classical channels by using the so-called attenuation method. Since the quantum channel is very weak in terms of power, combining it into a single fiber with much more powerful classical channels is challenging. Thus, sufficiently high-quality filtering is important to avoid possible crosstalk. A second and more difficult problem to address is the interference caused by Raman noise, which increases with the fiber length and is also dependent on the input power of the classical channel. Thus, in this paper the focus is on the possibility of suppressing the Raman noise effect, both in advance by means of wavelength positioning and by means of installed optical components. Such phenomena must be considered in the route design, as the quantum channel must be placed at a suitable wavelength with respect to the classical channels. The influence of other nonlinear phenomena has been neglected. In this paper, a practical experiment aimed at building a fully functional multiplexed quantum key distribution link is also described.
This paper presents a quantum key distribution (QKD) system that combines classical and quantum signals in a single optical channel for quantum key distribution application. We carefully optimize the communication link by placing the bright classical channel wavelength longer than the weak quantum one, number and specification of wavelength division multiplexers, and maximizing on-off extinction in the intensity modulator to minimize crosstalk of bright classical photons onto the quantum channel. Our experiments demonstrate a secret key rate (SKR) of 4.39 kbps for an emulated channel length of 65.5 km with less than 3% quantum bit error rate (QBER). The experimental study discussed here is relevant for utilization of existing optical fiber networks for QKD, making the system more robust for practical usage.
Integrating Quantum Key Distribution service with classical high-speed optical data transmission using a dense wavelength division multiplexing technique in a fiber is a cost-effective solution to improve the network's security. In this multichannel system, several noise sources degrade the quality of the quantum channel. The dominant degradation effect is determined by modeling in different cases. Optical filtering cannot decrease spontaneous Raman Scattering caused by the classical optical channels. So this nonlinear optical effect is investigated in detail with different system parameter setups. The optimal channel allocation and the required bandgap between the classical and quantum channels are determined.
In this paper, we analyze the impact of the spontaneous Raman scattered noise generated from multiple optical classical channels on a single quantum key distribution channel, all within the telecom C-band. We experimentally measure the noise generated from up to 14 continuous-wave laser sources with different wavelengths using the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) standard, in both propagation directions in respect to the QKD channel, over different standard SMF-28 fiber lengths. We then simulate the expected secure key generation rate for a decoy-states-based system as a function of distance under the presence of simultaneous telecom traffic with different modulation techniques, and show a severe penalty growing with the number of classical channels present. Our results show that, for in-band coexistence, the telecom channels should be distributed as close as possible from the quantum channel to avoid the Raman noise peaks. Operation far from the zero dispersion wavelength of the fiber is also beneficial as it greatly reduces the generation of four-wave mixing inside the quantum channel. Furthermore, narrow spectral filtering on the quantum channels is required due to the harsh limitations of performing QKD under real telecom environments, with the quantum and several classical channels coexisting in the same ITU-T C-band.
We investigate the crosstalk noise, especially the spontaneous Raman scattering, in the optical fiber of a co-propagation system between quantum key distribution (QKD) and classical communications. Although many methods have been proposed, such as increasing the wavelength spacing and narrowband filtering technique, to suppress Raman scattering noise, these methods greatly affect the performance of QKD. One way to solve the obstacle restricting the coexistence is to decrease the classical signal power. Based on the high gain of the gated avalanche photodiode and pulse position modulation, we demonstrate that the co-propagation system works effectively with only a small effect on long-haul fibers, which has great significance for the practical widespread commercialization of QKD.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is one of the most practical applications in quantum information processing, which can generate information-theoretical secure keys between remote parties. With the help of the wavelength-division multiplexing technique, QKD has been integrated with the classical optical communication networks. The wavelength-division multiplexing can be further improved by the mode-wavelength dual multiplexing technique with few-mode fiber (FMF), which has additional modal isolation and large effective core area of mode, and particularly is practical in fabrication and splicing technology compared with the multi-core fiber. Here, we present for the first time a QKD implementation coexisting with classical optical communication over weakly-coupled FMF using all-fiber mode-selective couplers. The co-propagation of QKD with one 100 Gbps classical data channel at -2.60 dBm launched power is achieved over 86 km FMF with 1.3 kbps real-time secure key generation. Compared with single-mode fiber using wavelength-division multiplexing, given the same fiber-input power, the Raman noise in FMF using the mode-wavelength dual multiplexing is reduced by 86% in average. Our work implements an important approach to the integration between QKD and classical optical communication and previews the compatibility of quantum communications with the next-generation mode division multiplexing networks.