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IEEE International Conference on Information, Communication and Networks (ICICN)

Optical Wireless Communication with DV-QKD on Single Wavelength

Wanli Xu, Weijie Liu, Nuo Huang, Zhengyuan Xu

Published Aug 21, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The paper presents a pioneering approach in which classical signals and quantum signals based on discrete-variable QKD are simultaneously generated, transmitted, and received on a single wavelength. The performance of the hybrid transmission scheme is thoroughly investigated across various data rates and levels of channel attenuation. A secure key rate of 591 bps alongside a classical data rate of 125 kbps is experimentally realized by using commercial devices. Compared to existing methods, the proposed scheme optimizes the utilization of optical wave resources, reduces system costs, and effectively mitigates interference from optical communication signals on quantum signals.

DOI
10.1109/icicn62625.2024.10761287

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The paper presents a pioneering approach in which classical signals and quantum signals based on discrete-variable QKD are simultaneously generated, transmitted, and received on a single wavelength. The performance of the hybrid transmission scheme is thoroughly investigated across various data rates and levels of channel attenuation. A secure key rate of 591 bps alongside a classical data rate of 125 kbps is experimentally realized by using commercial devices. Compared to existing methods, the proposed scheme optimizes the utilization of optical wave resources, reduces system costs, and effectively mitigates interference from optical communication signals on quantum signals.
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Future quantum communication infrastructures will need to serve heterogeneous users on shared physical channels: short-range, high-throughput links favor Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CV-QKD), while long-reach, high-loss links remain the domain of Discrete-Variable QKD (DV-QKD). Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) of the two protocols on a common channel would address both regimes simultaneously, but their markedly different noise sensitivities make coexistence non-trivial and, to date, experimentally untested. Here we report the first simultaneous operation of two independent CV- and DV-QKD systems on a common optical channel, using standard C-band DWDM filters at 1550.12 nm (CV) and 1545.32 nm (DV). We demonstrate joint operation on both optical fiber and a 620 m urban daylight free-space link. On fiber, the two systems exhibit the expected complementarity, crossing over at 7.56 dB of channel loss where both deliver $\sim$1.43 Mbit/s; in daylight free-space, both sustain Mbit/s key rates under time-varying atmospheric attenuation. Across all configurations we observe no measurable multiplexing-induced penalty in QBER or excess noise. These results establish hybrid CV-DV WDM as a practical building block for heterogeneous quantum communication networks, where metropolitan high-throughput users and long-reach backbone links can be served on a single physical infrastructure.
Since the working conditions of classical and quantum signals are very different, how to effectively integrate classical and quantum communication networks without affecting their respective performance has become a great challenge.In this paper, we proposed a scheme to realize classical communication and continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) based on frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), and we verified the feasibility of simultaneously realizing CV-QKD and classical optical communication data synchronous transmission scheme under the same infrastructure.We achieved a 0 bit error rate in 50 frames and a 20 Mb/s bit rate for the classical signal and an average secret key rate of around 5.86 × 10 5 bit/s for the quantum signal through a 4 dB fiber channel.This work provides a scheme to establish a QKD channel by only reserving a small passband in the entire optical communication instead of an entire wavelength, increasing efficiency and simplifying the integration of QKD and classical communication.
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We examine the applicability of wireless indoor quantum key distribution (QKD) in hybrid quantum-classical networks. We propose practical configurations that would enable wireless access to such networks. The proposed setups would allow an indoor wireless user, equipped with a QKD-enabled mobile device, to communicate securely with a remote party on the other end of the access network. QKD signals, sent through wireless indoor channels, are combined with classical ones and sent over shared fiber links to the remote user. Dense wavelengthdivision multiplexing would enable the simultaneous transmission of quantum and classical signals over the same fiber. We consider the adverse effects of the background noise induced by Raman scattered light on the QKD receivers due to such an integration. In addition, we consider the loss and the background noise that arise from indoor environments. We consider a number of discrete and continuous-variable QKD protocols and study their performance in different scenarios.
The feasibility of transmitting discrete-variable quantum key distribution channels with carrier-grade classical optical channels over multicore fibers is experimentally explored in terms of achievable quantum bit error rates, secret key rates as well as classical signal bit error rates. A coexistence transmission record of 11.2 Tb/s is achieved for the classical channels simultaneously with a DV-QKD channel over a 1 km-long 7-core multicore fiber. Coexistence over the same multicore fiber core is identified as a dominant factor for the performance of the quantum channel requiring optical bandpass filtering of 17 nm for the quantum channel to avoid the effect of Raman noise. Also, counter-propagation of classical channels and quantum channels probe more tolerance to noise proliferation than co-propagation. In addition, the performance of the quantum channel is maintained when more than three cores are used for the classical channels. Furthermore, by adding a second DV-QKD channel in the multicore fiber, the simultaneous transmission of classical channels as well as the generation of quantum-secured keys of two QKD channels is achieved with an operational range of 10 dB of launched power into the MCF.