Nonlocally randomized quantum-augmented security
AssigneeQunnect, Inc.
InventorsMehdi Namazi, Alexander Craddock, Anne Lazenby, Mael Flament
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Abstract
The inventors have developed methods and systems to address the above challenges using entangled photons with multiple colors transmitted with a classical data stream as a technique to detect eavesdropping on the data stream and to prevent reverse engineering for demodulating the entangled bits from the data stream. In some embodiments, a time gate is used to interleave the quantum and classic signals to provide quantum encryption of fiber optic communication protocols.
Claims48
A system for encrypting a data stream, the system comprising:
- an encryption channel comprising an optical fiber;
- a first photon source configured to, during operation of the system, generate a first pair of entangled photons comprising a first photon and a second photon, wherein the first photon source is configured to output the first photon to the encryption channel and to output the second photon to a time gate;
- a second photon source configured to, during operation of the system, generate a second pair of entangled photons comprising a third photon and a fourth photon, wherein the second photon source is configured to output the third photon to the encryption channel and to output the fourth photon to a bell state evaluator;
- an optical modulator configured to modulate a photon to generate an encoded photon for transmission of the data stream;
- and
- the time gate is configured to, responsive to receiving the second photon, cause the third photon or the encoded photon for the transmission of the data stream to be output to the encryption channel.
A system for reading an encrypted signal from a telecom data stream, the system comprising:
- an encryption channel comprising an optical fiber;
- a first photon detector configured to receive a first entangled photon to generate a gating signal to control a time gate;
- the time gate comprising two or more outputs, and the time gate being configured to control which one of the two or more outputs to send a signal received from the optical fiber at an input of the time gate;
- a second photon detector configured to receive output from a first output of the time gate and to determine an entanglement state of the photon;
- and
- a third photon detector configured to receive output from a second output of the time gate and to detect photons corresponding to a data stream.
A system for processing encrypted signals in a telecom data stream, the system comprising:
- an encryption channel comprising an optical fiber;
- a time gate comprising two or more inputs and two or more outputs to direct incoming and outgoing photons;
- an optical modulator configured to modulate photons corresponding to a data stream to generate encoded photons for transmission;
- a first photon source configured to generate a first pair of entangled photons, the first entanglement light source being configured to provide a first photon, of the first pair of entangled photons, to the encryption channel and to provide a second photon, of the first pair of entangled photons, to a bell state evaluator;
- and
- a first photon detector configured to receive a first entangled photon to generate a gating signal to control the time gate.
A method for encrypting telecom optical signals using optical qubits for secure communication transmission, the method comprising:
- generating a gating signal based on a coherent photon received by a detector of a quantum random number generator;
- generating a first bichromatic entangled pair comprising a first photon with a first wavelength configured for telecom transmission and a second photon having a second wavelength that is different than the first wavelength;
- selecting whether to transmit an optical source encoded for data transmission or the first photon through an encryption channel, the selection being based on the random number;
- and
- detecting a state of the second photon.
A method for decoding an optical signal that is encoded with optical qubits to receive a data stream, the method comprising:
- generating a gating signal based on a coherent photon received by a detector of a quantum random number generator;
- selecting whether to transmit a received photon to a first optical detector or a second optical detector based on the random number;
- detecting a photon corresponding to an entangled photon received at the first optical detector;
- determining an entanglement state of the photon received at the first optical detector;
- and
- detecting a second photon corresponding to a data stream received at the second optical detector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.