0.75 Gbit/s high-speed classical key distribution with mode-shift keying chaos synchronization of Fabry–Perot lasers

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.

Hybrid Microcavity Lasers: Principle, Design, and Practical Application

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Critical dispersion of chirped fiber Bragg grating for eliminating time delay signature of distributed feedback laser chaos

“…Owing to the complex dynamic characteristics, the chaotic laser has great potential applications in secure communication, [1][2][3][4] key distribution, [5][6][7][8][9][10] random number generation, [11][12][13][14][15] and optical neural networks. [16][17][18] A common approach is to use an external cavity semiconductor laser to generate optical chaos.…”

Optical scrambler using WGM micro-bottle cavity

“…Scrambling can be realized by the nonlinear response in an optical or opto-electronic system, typically including semiconductor lasers [5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and optical dispersive devices [16][17][18] . For semiconductor lasers, the scrambling effect originates from the nonlinear laser dynamics induced by injecting input light and by delayed self-feedback [7] .…”