Reduction of FWM noise in WDM-based QKD systems
using interleaved and unequally spaced channels
Yongmei Sun (孙咏梅)*, Yishan Lu (卢奕杉), Jianing Niu (牛佳宁),
and Yuefeng Ji (纪越峰)
State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and
Telecommunications (BUPT), Beijing 100876, China
*Corresponding author: ymsun@bupt.edu.cn
Received Decem ber 8, 2015; accepted March 4, 2016; posted online May 10, 2016
To extensively deploy quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, copropagating with classical channels on the
same fiber using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology becomes a critical issue. We propose a
user-based channel-interleaving WDM scheme with unequal frequency spacing (UFS-iWDM) to reduce the im-
pairment on the quantum channels induced by four-wave mixing (FWM), and theoretically analyze its impact
on quantum bit error rate (QBER). Numerical simulation results show that a UFS-iWDM can significantly
reduce the FWM noise and improve QBER compared with the corresponding WDM scheme with equal fre-
quency spacing (EFS), especially in the case of nonzero dispersion shifted fiber.
OCIS codes: 270.5565, 060.2330, 060.4510.
doi: 10.3788/COL201614.060602.
Quantum key distribution (QKD)
[1]
is considered as a prom-
ising technology for information security. In the past years,
great progress has been achieved on single-photon-based
point-to-point optical fiber QKD system. In such QKD sys-
tems, quantum signals are mostly transmitted throu gh
dedicated fibers to keep the ultra-weak quantum signals
from the impact of the classical optical signals. However,
it is extremely expensive and impractical for extensive
deployment. To make QKD more practicable, it should
be compatible with classical optical networks using wave-
length division multiplexing (WDM) technique. Therefore,
the next step is to be integrated with existing WDM
systems
[2]
.Xiaet al.
[3]
firstly reported simultaneous QKD
and high-speed data communications over the installed
fiber. More recent works have realized QKD with copropa-
gating a few classical channels
[4–8]
. However, they have not
considered the impact of four-wave mixing (FWM).
Generally, copropagating with classical channels se-
verely impair quantum channels whose powers are ultra-
low
[9]
. The impairment sources include Raman scattering,
channel crosstalk, and FWM
[10,11]
. Several solutions pro-
posed to reduce such impairments are as follows. (1) To
reduce the effect of Raman scattering, the quantum chan-
nels were usually placed at the higher frequency channels
and enough frequency spacing remained between quantum
and classical channels
[12,13]
. (2) Channel crosstalk was re-
duced by increasing the isolation between the WDM chan-
nels
[10,14]
. (3) The impairment of FWM can be mitigated by
reducing the classical channel power, increasing the spacing
between channels, and using orthogonal polarization on
quantum and classical channel, respectively
[14,15]
.
In future WDM-based QKD systems supporting
multiple users, quantum signals will face up to more com-
plicated environment since each user generally needs
three channels (wavelengths) to transmit three type of
signals, i.e., quantum signal, synchronization signal for
detecting quantum signal at the receiver, and data signal
with different power levels, respectively, which will be
multiplexed in one fiber. Other situations also include
multiplexing the synchronization and data channels in
one fiber
[16]
, and time-division-multiplexing quantum
and data signals on one channel
[17]
. Multiplexing multiple
users’ channels in a single fiber will give rise to more
serious impairments. The impairments induced by Raman
scattering and crosstalk can be efficiently reduced
by placing quantum channels on the higher frequencies
and using high-isolation filters, respectively. However, it
is difficult to eliminate FWM noise by using the
approaches mentioned above. Furthermore, FWM will
be the dominant impairment in low-dispersion fibers
[14]
.
To solve this problem, we proposes a user-based chan-
nel-interleaving WDM scheme with unequal frequency
spacing (UFS-iWDM) to reduce the impairment induced
by FWM, and theoretically analyze its impact on the
quantum bit error rate (QBER). Numerical simulation
results show that UFS-iWDM can significantly reduce
the FWM noise and improve QBER compared with the
corresponding WDM scheme with equal frequency spacing
(EFS).
FWM is a nonlinearity effect that occurs due to the
interaction between three optical channels through the
third-order electric susceptibility of the optical fiber. As-
suming there are three optical channels at frequencies f
i
,
f
j
and f
k
ðk ≠ i; jÞ separately, they will mix to generate a
new wave of frequency
f
ijk
¼ f
i
þ f
j
− f
k
: (1)
The peak power of the mixing product is given by
Refs. [
14,18] using the equations
COL 14(6), 060602(2016) CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS June 10, 2016
1671-7694/2016/060602(6) 060602-1 © 2016 Chinese Optics Letters