Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  In the quantum illumination (QI) protocol for secure communication [1], Alice prepares entangled signal and idler beams via spontaneous parametric downconversion. She sends the signal beam to Bob, while retaining the idler. Bob imposes message modulation on the beam he receives from Alice, amplifies it, and sends it back to her. Alice then decodes Bob's information by making a joint quantum measurement on the light she has retained and the light she has received from him.  The basic performance analysis for this protocol — which demonstrates its immunity to passive eavesdropping, in which Eve can only listen to Alice and Bob's transmissions — is reviewed, along with the results of its first proof-of-principle experiment [2]. Further analysis, is then presented, showing that secure data rates in excess of 1 Gbps may be possible over 20-km-long fiber links with technology that is available or under development [3]. Finally, an initial scheme for warding off active eavesdropping, in which Eve injects her own light into Bob's terminal, is proposed and analyzed [3].

REFERENCES

[1]. J.H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. A 80, 022320 (2009).

[2]. Z. Zhang, M. Tengner, T. Zhong, F.N.C. Wong, and J.H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 010501 (2013).

[3]. J.H. Shapiro, Z. Zhang, and F.N.C. Wong, “Secure Communication via Quantum Illumination,” to appear in Quantum Inf. Process.

Biography:  Jeffrey H. Shapiro received the S.B., S.M., E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1970, respectively, all in electrical engineering.  From 1970 until 1973 he was an Assistant Professor of Electrical Sciences and Applied Physics at Case Western Reserve University.  Since 1973 he has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is now the Julius A. Stratton Professor of Electrical Engineering.  Professor Shapiro's research interests center on the application of communication theory to optical systems.  He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Optical Society of America, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Physics.  In 2008 he was co-recipient of the Quantum Electronics Award from the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, and he received the Quantum Communication Award for Theoretical Research from Tamagawa University.