Autocompensating quantum cryptography
Open Access
- 12 July 2002
- journal article
- Published by IOP Publishing in New Journal of Physics
Abstract
Quantum cryptographic key distribution (QKD) uses extremely faint light pulses to carry quantum information between two parties (Alice and Bob), allowing them to generate a shared, secret cryptographic key. Autocompensating QKD systems automatically and passively compensate for uncontrolled time dependent variations of the optical fiber properties by coding the information as a differential phase between orthogonally-polarized components of a light pulse sent on a round trip through the fiber, reflected at mid-course using a Faraday mirror. We have built a prototype system based on standard telecom technology that achieves a privacy-amplified bit generation rate of ~1000 bits/s over a 10-km optical fiber link. Quantum cryptography is an example of an application that, by using quantum states of individual particles to represent information, accomplishes a practical task that is impossible using classical means.Keywords
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