INCORRUPTIBLE PUBLIC KEY USING QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR SECURE WIRED AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20160112192A1
• Filed: 05/21/2014
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qubitekk Inc.
• Original Assignee: In Qubitekk
• Inventors: EARL, Dennis Duncan
• Granted Patent: US 10,355,857 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0852 Quantum cryptography transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. light, infrared H04B10/00; wavelength-division multiplex systems H04J14/02; WDM arrangements H04J14/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0858 Details about key distillation or coding, e.g. reconciliation, error correction, privacy amplification, polarisation coding or phase coding
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

A hardware system and encryption method that generates encryption keys based on quantum mechanical phenomena that can be delivered directly, over public wired and wireless channels, to communicating devices. The encryption strength is derived from physical phenomena and not mathematical complexity and, therefore, is “future proof” against advances in computational power. The present invention allows pre-existing networked devices to communicate securely within a geographically defined “protection zone.”

Claims

1. A system for generating a public key for use in an encryption method, comprising:

a photon source configured to generate quantum entangled bi-photons;

an optical switch operably coupled to at least four fiber optic transmission lines;

at least four remote receiver units, each coupled to one of the fiber optic transmission lines; and

a first processing component operably coupled to the optical switch;

a first server component, coupled to the first processing component;

a second server component, consisting of at least four server components, each coupled to one of the remote receiver units; and

one or more client processing systems which are operably linked to each of the at least four server components to send data requests to the server components and receive data from the server components in response thereto, and to construct the public key using the received data,

wherein the optical switch is configured to receive the bi-photons from the photon source and transmit each bi-photon as a first and a second quantum entangled photon along separate fiber optic transmission lines to which the optical switch is coupled,

wherein the first processing component is configured to control the optical switch to determine which fiber-optic transmission line transmits the first quantum entangled photon and which fiber-optic transmission line transmits the second quantum entangled photon, and to store in a memory device associated with the first processing component information indicative of the determination,

wherein each remote receiver unit comprises a second processing component configured to measure one or more quantum states of photons received over the fiber-optic transmission line to which it is coupled and to store in a memory device associated with the second processing component information indicative of the quantum state(s) measured,

wherein each of the second server components is configured to respond to data requests from the one or more client processing systems for the information indicative of the quantum state(s) measured by the remote receiver unit to which it is coupled by retrieving the information indicative of the quantum state(s) measured from the memory device associated with the second processing component and transmitting the information to the one or more client processing systems, and

wherein the first server component is configured to receive information from and respond to requests from the one or more client processing systems to validate that the quantum state information retrieved from each remote receiver is properly correlated with the configuration of the optical switch prepared for each entangled photon pair and transmitting the validation, or invalidation, to the one or more client processing systems.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the quantum entangled bi-photons are polarization entangled.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the quantum entangled bi-photons are momentum entangled.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the quantum entangled bi-photons are spectrally entangled.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the quantum entangled bi-photons are spatially entangled.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the quantum entangled bi-photons are temporally entangled.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one server component is distributed at a distance of at least 1 kilometer from the optical switch.

8. A system according to claim 2, wherein active polarization compensation is used to sense or mitigate changes in polarization rotation in the optical fiber.

9. A system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more client processing systems are each distributed at a distance from the optical switch which is less than the distance each server component is distributed from the optical switch.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more client processing systems are configured to generate an encryption key for use in encrypting and/or decrypting data for the encryption method by processing the public key together with a shared secret key stored on the one or more client processing systems using a Boolean function.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the Boolean function is an OR function for use in generating an encryption key.

12. A system according to claim 11 wherein the encryption key is used with a Boolean XOR function to encrypt the outgoing data and an XOR function for use in decrypting incoming data.

13. A method of encrypting and decrypting a communication sent from a first processing component to a second processing component, wherein the first and second processing component each comprise data stored thereon indicative of a shared secret key, the method comprising:

submitting a request for data from the first processing component, and submitting a request for data from the second processing component, to a system for generating data from quantum entangled bi-photons, the system comprising

a photon source configured to generate the quantum entangled bi-photons,

an optical switch operably coupled to at least four fiber optic transmission lines,

at least four remote receiver units, each coupled to one of the fiber optic transmission lines, and

a third processing component operably coupled to the optical switch, and

a first server component, coupled to the third processing component;

a second server component, coupled to at least four server components, each coupled to one of the remote receiver units,

wherein the optical switch is configured to receive the bi-photons from the photon source and transmit each bi-photon as a first and a second quantum entangled photon along separate fiber optic transmission lines to which the optical switch is coupled,

wherein the third processing component is configured to control the optical switch to determine which fiber optic transmission line transmits the first quantum entangled photon and which fiber optic transmission line transmits the second quantum entangled photon, and to store in a memory device associated with the third processing component information indicative of the determination,

wherein each remote receiver unit comprises a fourth processing component configured to measure one or more quantum states of photons received over the fiber optic transmission line to which it is coupled and to store in a memory device associated with the fourth processing component information indicative of the quantum state(s) measured;

wherein the first server component is configured to receive information from and respond to requests from the one or more client processing systems to validate that the quantum state information retrieved from each remote receiver is properly correlated with the configuration of the optical switch prepared for each entangled photon pair and transmitting the validation, or invalidation, to the one or more client processing systems.

receiving at the first processing component from each server component in the system information indicative of the quantum state(s) measured by the remote receiver unit to which it is coupled in response to the request for data;

transmitting from the first and second processing component the information from the remote receiver units to the first server component;

receiving at the first server component information from the first and/or second processing systems and validating that the received quantum states correlate with the configuration of the optical switch prepared for each entangled photon pair and transmitting validation, or invalidation, of the received information to the first and/or second processing system;

receiving validation of the public key from the first server component and generating at the first processing component a public key using the received data;

receiving validation of the public key from the first server component and generating at the second processing component the public key using the received data;

encrypting the communication at the first processing component using an encryption key generated by processing the public key together with the shared secret key using an irreversible Boolean function and encrypting the outgoing data using this resulting key using a reversible Boolean function;

transmitting the encrypted communication from the first processing component to the second processing component; and

decrypting the encrypted communication at the second processing component using an encryption key generated by processing the public key together with the shared secret key using an irreversible Boolean function and decrypting the incoming data using the inverse of the reversible Boolean function.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein the message encrypted is a new secret key distributed and shared between the first and second processing components.