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Physics and simulation of optoelectronic devices. Conference

Secure optical communications using quantum dot coherent comb lasers

Zhenguo Lü, Yang Qi, Mostafa Khalil, Eric Liu, Philip J. Poole, Jiaren Liu, Pedro Barrios, Mohamed Rahim, Muhammad Mohsin, Martin Vachon, John Weber

Published Mar 5, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Secure optical communications involve securing data transmitted over optical networks, primarily using technologies like optical encryption to protect data in transit. We have developed an optical steganography communication technique based on a quantum dot coherent comb laser, laser channels have strong correlated phase relationship. Each stealth channel uses two comb lines, which operates through two paired Mach-Zehnder interferometers. One line carries data, while the other serves as a reference. At the transmitter, phase modulation adds data to one comb line. An optical delay introduces a mismatch between the two lines to make the data undetectable to others. At the receiver, a programmable tunable delay matches the assigned delays from the different stealth channels. If the tunable delay matches the delay difference between the two-comb lines, the signal is recovered. The system uses physical-layer encryption instead of digital encryption to ensure robust security, scalability, and real-time data protection without computational processing.

DOI
10.1117/12.3081440

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Secure optical communications involve securing data transmitted over optical networks, primarily using technologies like optical encryption to protect data in transit. We have developed an optical steganography communication technique based on a quantum dot coherent comb laser, laser channels have strong correlated phase relationship. Each stealth channel uses two comb lines, which operates through two paired Mach-Zehnder interferometers. One line carries data, while the other serves as a reference. At the transmitter, phase modulation adds data to one comb line. An optical delay introduces a mismatch between the two lines to make the data undetectable to others. At the receiver, a programmable tunable delay matches the assigned delays from the different stealth channels. If the tunable delay matches the delay difference between the two-comb lines, the signal is recovered. The system uses physical-layer encryption instead of digital encryption to ensure robust security, scalability, and real-time data protection without computational processing.
Using optical processing techniques, we experimentally enhance the physical layer security of optical communication systems. We exploit optical encryption using fiber nonlinearity to achieve real time data encryption. By implementing interleaved waveband switching modulation and variable two-code keying to the system, the security of the data is further enhanced. Based on spread spectrum, we also demonstrate optical steganography such that the stealth signal is transmitted underneath system noise. Optical steganography in WDM and optical CDMA systems is experimentally demonstrated. We also propose and study optical CDMA-based backup channels that improve service availability without wasting the bandwidth in the backup channel. The multi-layered security provided improves the confidentiality and availability of the network.
Optical layer attacks on communication networks are one of the weakest reinforced areas of the network, allowing attackers to overcome security when proper safeguards are not put into place. Here, we present our solution or Quantum Encryption in Phase Space (QEPS), a physical layer encryption method to secure data over the optical fiber, based on our novel round-trip Coherent-based Two-Field Quantum Key Distribution (CTF-QKD) scheme. We perform a theoretical study through simulation and provide an experimental demonstration. The same encryption is used for QEPS as CTF-QKD but achieved through a pre-shared key and one-directional transmission design. QEPS is uniquely different from traditional technology where encryption is performed at the optical domain with coherent states by applying a quantum phase-shifting operator. The pre-shared secret is used to seed a deterministic random number generator and control the phase modulator at the transmitter for encryption and at the receiver for decryption. Using commercially available simulation software, we study two preventative measures for different modulation formats which will prevent an eavesdropper from obtaining any data. QEPS demonstrates that it is secure against tapping attacks when attackers have no information of the phase modulator and pre-shared key. Finally, an experiment with commercial components demonstrates QEPS system integrability.
Optical encryption, key generation, and optical stealth transmission techniques for protecting the privacy of communication in optical networks are proposed and summarized. The signal processing methods based on fiber components provide ways to encrypt data and generate encryption keys at the speed of data transmission in optical fibers. Private and confidential communication is achieved without compromising the capacity and bandwidth of the optical network. Optical stealth transmission can hide the signal in plain sight. Because an eavesdropper can neither read the data nor detect the existence of the transmitted signal, optical stealth transmission provides a higher level of privacy. A hybrid system which includes both the public channels and stealth channels can effectively provide anonymous communication and defend against traffic analysis.
In fiber-optic networks, optical steganographic communication hides the existence of stealth signals in public channels. The previous security analyses assumed threat models in which eavesdroppers rely only on the real-time key search in the optical domain for signal recovery. In this letter, we study a new threat model that uses coherent detection and offline digital signal processing (DSP) to recover the stealth signal, and we show the robustness of optical steganographic communication under this attack. We find that eavesdroppers equipped with the state-of-the-art coherent detectors and DSP technologies fail to estimate the secret key. In addition, even if the eavesdroppers are given the secret key, the stealth signal cannot be recovered from the signal using DSP. The histogram of the received signal after DSP displays a noise-like form which prevents eavesdroppers from detecting the existence of the stealth signal. We attribute the system robustness to the unique features of using amplified spontaneous emission noise as the signal carrier, including wide bandwidth, large phase variance, and fast phase fluctuation.
The development of communication technology is currently progressing at an extremely rapid pace. One of the most widely applied technologies for data transmission is fiber optic communication, which uses light as the transmission medium. This technology enables data to be transmitted at very high speeds. However, in the process of data transmission, a security mechanism is required to protect information from unauthorized access. Attacks on fiber optic networks can lead to significant alterations in the data received compared to the data sent by the transmitter. This poses a serious risk, particularly when the transmitted data is confidential. Two methods that can be employed to secure fiber optic networks are Optical Steganography and Optical Encryption. The working principle of Optical Steganography involves hiding signals in public channels, while Optical Encryption functions by encrypting the transmitted signals. Both methods can be implemented using OptiSystem software. According to the results of this study, Optical Encryption demonstrates a higher level of reliability compared to Optical Steganography. Optical Encryption achieved a Q-Factor value of 14.65 and a BER of 6.55×10−49. In terms of Q-Factor, Optical Encryption is shown to be 16.3% more effective than Optical Steganography and 90.4% more efficient compared to designs without a security system.
Secure free-space data links can be established using conventional laser communication technology or, if necessary, they can be further enhanced with quantum encryption. Security features of these systems are based on the protocols that make use of the inherent properties of laser light. In this case, encryption does not rely on complex mathematical algorithms that add overhead to the communication stream, but instead it is based on physical-layer processes in the laser sources and other modulating components. One promising approach is based on polarization entanglement between correlated photon pairs to achieve data encryption in quantum communication systems. The foundation of security lies in the response of photons to polarization measurements. Additional degrees of freedom can be added to each “singleparticle” state by using hyper-entanglement. The situation can be visualized when several carrier waves are assigned specific frequencies in the 100 GHz International Telecommunication Union (ITU) grid. The two technologies that can be eventually integrated to achieve this task include hyperspectral quantum circuits and the entangled pair source and detection systems. This results in frequency/polarization hyper-entanglement, which can be processed with additional wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) components to achieve efficient separation of the signals. It is important to understand that most of the previous work is theoretical and assumes ideal properties of all optical parts. In reality, many non-ideal features of the quantum circuits and their components can change the way the quantum states are processed, and this constitutes the main focus of our paper.