2.7 Gb/s Secure Key Generation and Distribution Using Bidirectional Polarization Scrambler in Fiber

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 289 - 292
• Main Authors: Zhang, Liuming, Hajomer, Adnan A. E., Hu, Weisheng, Yang, Xuelin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 15.03.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Computer networks; Data encryption; Encryption; Optical communication; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical fiber networks; Optical fiber polarization; Optical polarization; physical-layer security; Polarization; polarization scrambling; Post-processing; Reciprocity; RF signals; Secure key generation and distribution (SKGD); Security
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2021.3058118

A physical-layer secure key generation and distribution (SKGD) scheme in classical fiber channel is proposed and demonstrated using a bidirectional wide-band polarization scrambler (WBPS), to alter rapidly and symmetrically the state of polarization (SOP) for the two counter-propagating optical signals in fiber. Due to the optical channel reciprocity, highly-consistent key bits can be extracted from the correlated SOP fluctuations, while the key secrecy is ensured by the fiber channel uniqueness. A final key generation rate (KGR) of 2.7 Gb/s is demonstrated over 10 km single mode fiber (SMF), where error-free and true randomness of the generated key are achieved after post-processing. The obtained KGR at Gb/s makes a further step towards the implementation of one-time-pad data encryption with perfect secrecy in fiber networks.