Original key recovery apparatus and method

• US 10,958,427 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2018
• Issued: 03/23/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Su, Changzheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Harris, Christopher C
• Application Number:
  US16/116,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20180367301A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/532 Polarisation modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/614 comprising one or more polarization beam splitters, e.g. polarization multiplexed [PolMux] X-PSK coherent receivers, polarization diversity heterodyne coherent receivers H04J14/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/802 for isolation, e.g. using optocouplers
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/06 Polarisation multiplex systems
• 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: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage

Abstract

In the embodiments of the present invention, a transmit optical signal includes a reference optical signal and a quantum optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling are performed on the transmit optical signal by using a local oscillator optical signal to obtain at least two coherently coupled optical signals, and then optical-to-electrical conversion and amplification are separately performed on a first coherently coupled optical signal that includes the reference optical signal and a second coherently coupled optical signal that includes the quantum optical signal, to obtain a first electrical signal and a second electrical signal. Then, phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal is obtained from the first electrical signal, and an original key is recovered from the second electrical signal based on the phase frequency information.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a coherent coupler;

a first detector connected to the coherent coupler;

a second detector connected to the coherent coupler;

a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) connected to the first detector, and a first processor connected to the first ADC, wherein the first ADC and the first processor are configured to implement carrier recovery; and

a second ADC connected to the second detector, and a second processor connected to the second ADC, wherein the second ADC and the second processor are configured to implement key recovery;

wherein the coherent coupler is configured to perform, based on a local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on a received transmit optical signal, to obtain a plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, wherein the received transmit optical signal comprises a reference optical signal and a quantum optical signal, the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals comprises at least one first coherently coupled optical signal and at least one second coherently coupled optical signal, each first coherently coupled optical signal comprises the reference optical signal, and each second coherently coupled optical signal comprises the quantum optical signal;

wherein the first detector is configured to;

perform optical-to-electrical conversion and amplification on the at least one first coherently coupled optical signal, to obtain a first electrical signal; and

transmit the first electrical signal to the first ADC;

wherein the second detector is configured to;

perform optical-to-electrical conversion and amplification on the at least one second coherently coupled optical signal, to obtain a second electrical signal, wherein an amplification factor corresponding to the at least one first coherently coupled optical signal is smaller than an amplification factor corresponding to the at least one second coherently coupled optical signal; and

transmit the second electrical signal to the second ADC;

wherein the first processor is configured to;

determine, according to the first electrical signal from the first ADC, phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal; and

send the phase frequency information to the second processor; and

wherein the second processor is configured to recover an original key from the second electrical signal based on the received phase frequency information.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a local oscillator connected to the first processor and the coherent coupler, wherein the local oscillator is configured to;

receive the phase frequency information sent by the first processor;

generate the local oscillator optical signal based on the received phase frequency information; and

send the local oscillator optical signal to the coherent coupler.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the transmit optical signal is transmitted based on one polarization state, and the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal are time division multiplexing signals;

the coherent coupler comprises a first optical splitter, a first coupler, and a second coupler, the first coupler and the second coupler are connected to the first optical splitter, the first coupler is connected to the first detector, and the second coupler is connected to the second detector;

the local oscillator is configured to;

split the local oscillator optical signal into two first local oscillator optical sub-signals, and respectively send the two first local oscillator optical sub-signals to the first coupler and the second coupler;

the first optical splitter is configured to;

receive the transmit optical signal;

perform optical splitting processing on the transmit optical signal to obtain two optically split optical signals; and

respectively input the two optically split optical signals to the first coupler and the second coupler;

the first coupler is configured to utilize one of the two received first local oscillator optical sub-signals to perform coherent coupling on one of the two received optically split optical signals, to obtain one of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals; and

the second coupler is configured to utilize the other of the two received first local oscillator optical sub-signals to perform coherent coupling on the other of the two received optically split optical signals, to obtain another of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the received transmit optical signal is transmitted based on one polarization state, and the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal are time division multiplexing signals;

the coherent coupler comprises a third coupler, a second optical splitter, and a third optical splitter, the second optical splitter and the third optical splitter are connected to the third coupler, the second optical splitter is connected to the first detector and the second detector, and the third optical splitter is connected to the first detector and the second detector;

the third coupler is configured to;

utilize the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal;

split a third coherently coupled optical signal into two first coherent optical signals; and

respectively input the two first coherent optical signals to the second optical splitter and the third optical splitter;

the second optical splitter is configured to;

perform optical splitting processing on one of the two received first coherent optical signals, to obtain a first coherent optical signal that accounts for a first proportion in the first coherent optical signal and a first coherent optical signal that accounts for a second proportion in the first coherent optical signal, wherein a sum of the first proportion and the second proportion is 1; and

the third optical splitter is configured to perform optical splitting processing on the other of the two received first coherent optical signals, to obtain another first coherent optical signal that accounts for the first proportion in the first coherent optical signal and another first coherent optical signal that accounts for the second proportion in the first coherent optical signal;

wherein the two first coherent optical signals that each account for the first proportion in each first coherent optical signal are utilized as one of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, and the two first coherent optical signals that each account for the second proportion in each first coherent optical signal are utilized as another of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first ADC is configured to:

receive the first electrical signal;

perform sampling quantization on the first electrical signal to obtain a reference signal sampling sequence; and

send the reference signal sampling sequence to the first processor, wherein an electrical signal amplitude that is in a corresponding first electrical signal and that corresponds to the reference optical signal comprised in each first coherently coupled optical signal is in a first preset amplitude range of the first ADC; and

wherein the first processor is configured to;

determine the phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal based on the received reference signal sampling sequence, and send the phase frequency information to the second processor.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second ADC is configured to:

receive the second electrical signal;

perform sampling quantization on the second electrical signal to obtain a quantum signal sampling sequence; and

send the quantum signal sampling sequence to the second processor, wherein an electrical signal amplitude that is in a corresponding second electrical signal and that corresponds to the quantum optical signal comprised in each second coherently coupled optical signal is in a second preset amplitude range of the second ADC; and

wherein the second processor is configured to recover the original key based on the received quantum signal sampling sequence and the received phase frequency information.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a polarization controller connected to the coherent coupler, wherein the polarization controller is configured to:

receive the transmit optical signal, and adjust a polarization state of the received transmit optical signal to a fixed polarization state; and

send the transmit optical signal in the fixed polarization state to the coherent coupler.

8. A method, comprising:

performing, based on a local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on a received transmit optical signal, to obtain at plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, wherein the received transmit optical signal comprises a reference optical signal and a quantum optical signal, the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals comprises at least one first coherently coupled optical signal and at least one second coherently coupled optical signal, each first coherently coupled optical signal comprises the reference optical signal, and each second coherently coupled optical signal comprises the quantum optical signal;

performing optical-to-electrical conversion and amplification on the at least one first coherently coupled optical signal to obtain a first electrical signal;

performing optical-to-electrical conversion and amplification on the at least one second coherently coupled optical signal to obtain a second electrical signal, wherein an amplification factor corresponding to the at least one first coherently coupled optical signal is smaller than an amplification factor corresponding to the at least one second coherently coupled optical signal; and

determining, from the first electrical signal, phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal, and recovering an original key from the second electrical signal based on the received phase frequency information.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein before performing the optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal, to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, the method further comprises:

generating the local oscillator optical signal based on the phase frequency information.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the received transmit optical signal is transmitted based on one polarization state, and the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal are time division multiplexing signals;

and

wherein performing, based on the local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals comprises;

receiving the transmit optical signal, and performing optical splitting processing on the transmit optical signal to obtain two optically split optical signals; and

splitting the local oscillator optical signal into two first local oscillator optical sub-signals, and utilizing the two first local oscillator optical sub-signals to respectively perform coherent coupling on the two optically split optical signals, so as to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, wherein each first local oscillator optical sub-signal respectively corresponds to one of the optically split optical signals.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the received transmit optical signal is transmitted based on N polarization states, and N is an integer greater than 1;

and

wherein performing, based on the local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals comprises;

splitting the received transmit optical signal into N optical signals through polarization optical splitting processing; and

performing polarization rotation on at least (N−

1) optical signals to output N initial optical signals in a same polarization state, wherein each initial optical signal respectively corresponds to one polarization state; and

performing coherent coupling on each of the N initial optical signals based on the local oscillator optical signal, to output N coherently coupled optical signals.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the N initial optical signals comprise a plurality of initial optical signals that each comprise a reference optical signal and a quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing;

or

the N initial optical signals comprise at least any two of the following;

an initial optical signal that comprises a reference optical signal and a quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, an initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal, or an initial optical signal that comprises the quantum optical signal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein performing coherent coupling on each of the N initial optical signals based on the local oscillator optical signal, to output the N coherently coupled optical signals, comprises:

when the N initial optical signals comprise a first initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal, utilizing a local oscillator optical signal that accounts for a third proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling on the first initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal, to obtain a coherently coupled optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal;

when the N initial optical signals comprise a second initial optical signal that comprises the quantum optical signal, utilizing a local oscillator optical signal that accounts for a fourth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling on the second initial optical signal that comprises the quantum optical signal, to obtain a coherently coupled optical signal that comprises the quantum optical signal;

or

when the N initial optical signals comprise a third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, utilizing a local oscillator optical signal that accounts for a fifth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling and optical splitting processing on the third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, to obtain two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled signals, wherein each of the obtained two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled signals comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein utilizing the local oscillator optical signal that accounts for the fifth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling and optical splitting processing on the third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, to obtain the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled signals, comprises:

performing optical splitting processing on the third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, to obtain two optically split initial optical signals;

splitting the local oscillator optical signal that accounts for the fifth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal into two second local oscillator optical sub-signals; and

utilizing one of the two second local oscillator optical sub-signals to perform coherent coupling on one of the two optically split initial optical signals, and utilizing another of the two second local oscillator optical sub-signals to perform coherent coupling on another of the two optically split initial optical signals, to obtain the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled signals.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein utilizing the local oscillator optical signal that accounts for the fifth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling and optical splitting processing on the third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, to obtain the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled signals, comprises:

utilizing the local oscillator optical signal that accounts for the fifth proportion in the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling on the third initial optical signal that comprises the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal of time division multiplexing, and splitting a third coherently coupled optical signal into two second coherent optical signals; and

performing optical splitting processing on each of the two second coherent optical signals to obtain two second coherent optical signals that each account for a sixth proportion in each second coherent optical signal and two second coherent optical signals that each account for a seventh proportion in each second coherent optical signal, wherein a sum of the sixth proportion and the seventh proportion is 1;

wherein the two second coherent optical signals that each account for the sixth proportion in each second coherent optical signal are utilized as one of the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, and the two second coherent optical signals that each account for the seventh proportion in each second coherent optical signal are utilized as another of the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals.

16. The method according to claim 8, wherein the transmit optical signal is transmitted based on one polarization state, and the reference optical signal and the quantum optical signal are time division multiplexing signals;

and

wherein performing, based on the local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal, to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, comprises;

utilizing the local oscillator optical signal to perform coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal, and splitting a third coherently coupled optical signal into two first coherent optical signals;

performing optical splitting processing on one of the two received first coherent optical signals, to obtain a first coherent optical signal that accounts for a first proportion in the first coherent optical signal and a first coherent optical signal that accounts for a second proportion in the first coherent optical signal, wherein a sum of the first proportion and the second proportion is 1; and

performing optical splitting processing on the other of the two received first coherent optical signals, to obtain another first coherent optical signal that accounts for the first proportion in the first coherent optical signal and another first coherent optical signal that accounts for the second proportion in the first coherent optical signal;

wherein the two first coherent optical signals that each account for the first proportion in each first coherent optical signal are utilized as one of the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, and the two first coherent optical signals that each account for the second proportion in each first coherent optical signal are utilized as another of the two coherently coupled optical signals of the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals.

17. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining, from the first electrical signal, phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal comprises:

receiving the first electrical signal; and

performing sampling quantization on the first electrical signal to obtain a reference signal sampling sequence, wherein an electrical signal amplitude that is in a corresponding first electrical signal and that corresponds to the reference optical signal comprised in each at least one first coherently coupled optical signal is in a first preset amplitude range; and

determining the phase frequency information between the local oscillator optical signal and the reference optical signal based on the received reference signal sampling sequence.

18. The method according to claim 8, wherein recovering the original key from the second electrical signal based on the received phase frequency information comprises:

receiving the second electrical signal; and

performing sampling quantization on the second electrical signal to obtain a quantum signal sampling sequence, wherein an electrical signal amplitude that is in a corresponding second electrical signal and that corresponds to the quantum optical signal comprised in each at least one second coherently coupled optical signal is in a second preset amplitude range; and

recovering the original key based on the received quantum signal sampling sequence and the received phase frequency information.

19. The method according to claim 8, wherein before performing, based on a local oscillator optical signal, optical splitting processing and coherent coupling on the received transmit optical signal to obtain the plurality of coherently coupled optical signals, the method further comprises:

receiving the transmit optical signal, and adjusting a polarization state of the received transmit optical signal to a fixed polarization state.