Optical encryption of parallel quadrature phase shift keying signals based on nondegenerate four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear fiber

Abstract

A scheme for optical parallel encryption/decryption of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signals is proposed, in which three QPSK signals at 10 Gb/s are encrypted and decrypted simultaneously in the optical domain through nondegenerate four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear fiber. The results of theoretical analysis and simulations show that the scheme can perform high-speed wiretapping against the encryption of parallel signals and receiver sensitivities of encrypted signal and the decrypted signal are −25.9 and −23.8 dBm, respectively, at the forward error correction threshold. The results are useful for designing high-speed encryption/decryption of advanced modulated signals and thus enhancing the physical layer security of optical networks.