Common-signal-induced synchronization in photonic integrated circuits and its application to secure key distribution

T. Sasaki (1) , I. Kakesu (1) , Y. Mitsui (1) , Damien Rontani (2, 1, 3) , Atsushi Uchida (1) , Satoshi Sunada (4, 5) , K. Yoshimura (6, 4) , M. Inubushi (4)

1 Department of Information and Computer Sciences
2 LMOPS - Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Systèmes
3 Chaire Photonique
4 NTT Communication Science Laboratories
5 KIT - Kanazawa Institute of Technology
6 Tottori University

We experimentally achieve common-signal-induced synchronization in two photonic integrated circuits with short external cavities driven by a constant-amplitude random-phase light. The degree of synchronization can be controlled by changing the optical feedback phase of the two photonic integrated circuits. The change in the optical feedback phase leads to a significant redistribution of the spectral energy of optical and RF spectra, which is a unique characteristic of PICs with the short external cavity. The matching of the RF and optical spectra is necessary to achieve synchronization between the two PICs, and stable synchronization can be obtained over an hour in the presence of optical feedback. We succeed in generating information-theoretic secure keys and achieving the final key generation rate of 184 kb/s using the PICs. © 2017 Optical Society of America.

Mots clés: Cesium compounds; Feedback; Information theory; Integrated circuits; Optical feedback; Photonic devices; Synchronization; Timing circuits; Constant amplitude; External cavity; ITS applications; Key generation rate; Optical spectra; Photonic integrated circuits; Secure key distribution; Spectral energy; Photonic integration technology

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

T. Sasaki, I. Kakesu, Y. Mitsui, Damien Rontani, Atsushi Uchida, et al.. Common-signal-induced synchronization in photonic integrated circuits and its application to secure key distribution. Optics Express, 2017, 25 (21), pp.26029-26044. ⟨10.1364/OE.25.026029⟩. ⟨hal-02432559⟩