Exploration of Four-Channel Coherent Optical Chaotic Secure Communication with the Rate of 400 Gb/s Using Photonic Reservoir Computing Based on Quantum Dot Spin-VCSELs

Abstract

In this work, we present a novel four-channel coherent optical chaotic secure communication (COCSC) system, incorporating four simultaneous photonic reservoir computers in tandem with four coherent demodulation units. We employ a quartet of photonic reservoirs that capture the chaotic dynamics of four polarization components (PCs) emitted by a driving QD spin-VCSEL. These reservoirs are realized utilizing four PCs of a corresponding reservoir QD spin-VCSEL. Through these four concurrent photonic reservoir structures, we facilitate high-quality wideband-chaos synchronization across four pairs of PCs. Leveraging wideband chaos synchronization, our COCSC system boasts a substantial 4 × 100 GHz capacity. High-quality synchronization is pivotal for the precise demasking or decoding of four distinct signal types, QPSK, 4QAM, 8QAM and 16QAM, which are concealed within disparate chaotic PCs. After initial demodulation via correlation techniques and subsequent refinement through a variety of digital signal processing methods, we successfully reconstruct four unique baseband signals that conform to the QPSK, 4QAM, 8QAM and 16QAM specifications. Careful examination of the eye diagrams, bit error rates, and temporal trajectories of the coherently demodulated baseband signals indicates that each set of baseband signals is flawlessly retrieved. This is underscored by the pronounced eye openings in the eye diagrams and a negligible bit error rate for each channel of baseband signals. Our results suggest that delay-based optical reservoir computing employing a QD spin-VCSEL is a potent approach for achieving multi-channel coherent optical secure communication with optimal performance and enhanced security.