Secure key distribution based on hybrid chaos synchronization between semiconductor lasers subject to dual injections.

We propose and numerically demonstrate a novel secure key distribution (SKD) scheme by using dynamically synchronized semiconductor lasers (SLs) subject to common dual injections from two mutually coupled SLs. The performance of hybrid chaos synchronization, complexity of chaotic signals, chaos-based key distribution, and the privacy of SKD scheme are systematically discussed. It is shown that high-quality hybrid chaos synchronization of zero lag and lead lag can be both achieved between two local lasers under different injection delay conditions, whereas low cross correlations are observed among the driving lasers and the local lasers. By randomly perturbing the injection delays with four independent random sequences, the outputs of local SLs can be dynamically synchronized. Extracting the outputs in the synchronization time slots of zero lag and lead lag, synchronous entropy sources are obtained and used to generate keys with high consistency at local ends of Alice and Bob, which are robust to the parameter mismatches of local lasers to some extent. Moreover, large BER is calculated in two types of typical illegal attacks, which demonstrates the security of the proposed scheme. This work proposed a high-level secure key distribution solution to one-time pad communication.

Adaptive time-delayed photonic reservoir computing based on Kalman-filter training.

We propose an adaptive time-delayed photonic reservoir computing (RC) structure by utilizing the Kalman filter (KF) algorithm as training approach. Two benchmark tasks, namely the Santa Fe time-series prediction and the nonlinear channel equalization, are adopted to evaluate the performance of the proposed RC structure. The simulation results indicate that with the contribution of adaptive KF training, the prediction and equalization performance for the benchmark tasks can be significantly enhanced, with respect to the conventional RC using a training approach based on the least-squares (LS). Moreover, by introducing a complex mask derived from a bandwidth and complexity enhanced chaotic signal into the proposed RC, the performance of prediction and equalization can be further improved. In addition, it is demonstrated that the proposed RC system can provide a better equalization performance for the parameter-variant wireless channel equalization task, compared with the conventional RC based on LS training. The work presents a potential way to realize adaptive photonic computing.

Pulsed-chaos MIMO radar based on a single flat-spectrum and Delta-like autocorrelation optical chaos source.

We propose and demonstrate a pulsed-chaos multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar system in this paper. In the proposed MIMO radar system, multi-channel pulsed chaotic signals are extracted from an optical seed chaos source with Delta-like autocorrelation and flat spectrum. The seed chaos source is generated by passing the chaotic output of an external-cavity semiconductor laser through a dispersive self-feedback phase-modulation loop and used for MIMO radar signal generation. The cross-correlation characteristics of MIMO radar signals, the maximum channel number of separable mixed echoes, as well as the performances of multi-target ranging and anti-interference in the proposed pulsed-chaos MIMO radar system are systematically investigated. The results indicate that multi-channel pulsed-chaos signals with Delta-like autocorrelation can be simultaneously generated from the seed chaos source, and excellent quasi-orthogonality of transmission radar signals can be guaranteed. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the proposed pulsed-chaos MIMO radar supports multi-target ranging with a centimeter-level resolution and can maintain satisfactory performance under low SNR scenarios with various interferences.

Photonic decision-making for arbitrary-number-armed bandit problem utilizing parallel chaos generation.

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme that helps to solve an any-number-armed bandit problem by utilizing two parallel simultaneously-generated chaotic signals and the epsilon (ɛ)-greedy strategy. In the proposed scheme, two chaotic signals are experimentally generated, and then processed by an 8-bit analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) with 4 least significant bits (LSBs), to generate two amplitude-distribution-uniform sequences for decision-making. The correspondence between these two random sequences and different arms is established by a mapping rule designed in virtue of the ɛ-greedy-strategy. Based on this, decision-making for an exemplary 5-armed bandit problem is successfully performed, and moreover, the influences of the mapping rule and unknown reward probabilities on the correction decision rate (CDR) performance for the 4-armed to 7-armed bandit problems are investigated. This work provides a novel way for solving the arbitrary-number-armed bandit problem.

Chaos synchronization based on cluster fusion in asymmetric coupling semiconductor lasers networks.

A novel cluster fusion method is proposed, based on which chaos synchronization in asymmetric coupling semiconductor lasers (ACSLs) networks is systematically demonstrated. Take the cluster fusion of a mutually-coupled network composed of 7 semiconductor lasers (SLs) for instance, the characteristics of chaos synchronization as well as the influences of coupling strength, bias current, and mismatches of intrinsic parameters and injection strength on the quality of chaos synchronization in hybrid clusters composed of ACSLs are thoroughly investigated. The results show that by using cluster fusion, the ACSLs which originally belong to different clusters can form three types of new hybrid clusters, namely, trivial-hybrid cluster, trivial-nontrivial-hybrid cluster, and nontrivial-hybrid cluster. Compared with the low-correlation inter-cluster ACSLs of original SLs network, high-quality chaos synchronization is achieved in three types of newly generated hybrid clusters over a wide parameter range. Moreover, the cluster fusion and synchronization of side-SLs clusters of star-type SLs networks are also verified, which indicate the universality of the proposed method. This work provides a new way to realize the chaos synchronization among ACSLs of different clusters.

Flexible multipoint-to-multipoint communication in semiconductor laser networks using one-way isolation.

We propose a type of semiconductor laser (SL) network that supports flexible chaos synchronization and multipoint-to-multipoint communications by using one-way isolation (OWI). The properties of chaos synchronization, influences of coupling strength and time delay mismatches on the quality of chaos synchronization, and the performance as well as the security of the SL network-based chaotic communications are systematically discussed. The numerical results demonstrate that, with the introduction of OWI, flexible chaos synchronization can be easily achieved in arbitrary-size SL clusters over wide parameter spaces of coupling strength and current factor. Based on the high-quality flexible chaos synchronization, satisfactory performance for Gb/s chaotic communications can be achieved in arbitrary-size clusters in the SL networks. Moreover, it is also indicated that in the SL networks, the security of intra-cluster communications can be guaranteed in three aspects. Firstly, the eavesdroppers cannot intercept any useful information by using a typical illegal attack. Secondly, due to the OWI, the chaotic carriers are only transmitted in the corresponding clusters, not transmitted among clusters, as such the security can be further improved. Thirdly, the high sensitivity of cross-correlation coefficient to the injection delay mismatches indicates that the injection delays of idle SLs to communicating SLs can be regarded as the keys of the communication clusters. The proposed scheme offers an alternative solution to flexible secure network-type communications.

Generation of synchronized wideband complex signals and its application in secure optical communication.

We propose and demonstrate a novel secure optical communication scheme, in which the message signal is encrypted and decrypted by two synchronized wideband complex signals. In our scheme, the wideband complex signals are generated by two private chaotic driving signals which are obtained from two local conventional external-cavity semiconductor lasers (ECSLs) subject to a common injection. Both the experimental and simulation results show that, the effective bandwidths of the chaotic driving signals are significantly improved and the time-delay signatures are completely suppressed, in virtue of the spectral broadening effect of chaotic phase-modulation and the phase-to-intensity conversion effect of dispersive components. Furthermore, the generated wideband complex signals are used as the optical carriers for achieving secure transmission. The message signal with a bit rate up to 10 Gb/s can be well hidden into the carrier, and cannot be recognized by the eavesdropper. The high-quality synchronization ensures that the message signal can be correctly recovered at the receiver.

Chaos synchronization and communication in global semiconductor laser network with coupling time delay signature concealment.

Chaos synchronization and pairwise bidirectional communication with coupling time delay signature (CTDS) concealment in a global heterogeneous coupled semiconductor laser (SL) network are achieved by introducing identical chaotic injections from an external SL with self-feedback. The properties of chaos synchronization and CTDSs in four indicative cases are comparatively discussed. Moreover, the influences of key parameters on the quality of chaos synchronization and the CTDS characteristics are thoroughly investigated. On the basis of the chaos synchronization, the chaotic communication performance is further analyzed. The numerical results demonstrate that with the joint contributions of heterogeneous couplings and external identical chaotic injections, isochronous chaos synchronization can be achieved between two arbitrary SLs, and simultaneously the CTDSs are suppressed to a distinguishable level close to zero, over a wide parameter range. Besides, bidirectional transmission with a bit rate beyond 6 Gbit/s can be achieved between the synchronized SLs. Comparing with the conventional two-user communication system, the proposed SL network with CTDS concealment supports flexible network-type message exchanges between pairwise SLs.

Generation and synchronization of wideband chaos in semiconductor lasers subject to constant-amplitude self-phase-modulated optical injection.

We propose a novel wideband chaos generation scheme by using an external-cavity semiconductor laser (ECSL) subject to optical-electronic hybrid feedback. In this scheme, the output of ECSL is photo-detected and used to modulate the output of a continuous wave laser by an electro-optical phase modulator, the constant-amplitude self-phase-modulated light is then injected back into the ECSL. The experimental results indicate that, compared with the chaos generation with conventional optical feedback (COF), significant bandwidth enhancement is achieved in the proposed scheme. The effective bandwidth of generated chaos is increased from a few GHz to over 20 GHz, and moreover, the spectrum flatness and the complexity of generated chaos are also considerably improved. Furthermore, we propose a wideband chaos synchronization system based on the proposed chaos generation scheme. It is experimentally demonstrated that high-quality synchronization between two wideband chaos signals with an effective bandwidth greater than 20 GHz is achieved. This work simultaneously achieves the generation and the synchronization of wideband chaos, which shows valuable potential in chaos-based secure communication, such as enhancing the transmission capacity and improving the security.

Injection-locking chaos synchronization and communication in closed-loop semiconductor lasers subject to phase-conjugate feedback.

The properties of injection-locking chaos synchronization and communication in closed-loop external-cavity semiconductor lasers (ECSL) subject to phase-conjugate feedback (PCF) are investigated systematically. We theoretically analyze the general conditions for the injection-locking, and numerically investigate the properties of injection-locking chaos synchronization in the phase and intensity domains, the influences of frequency detuning and intrinsic parameter mismatch on the injection-locking chaos synchronization, as well as the performance of injection-locking chaos synchronization-based communication in closed-loop PCF-ECSL systems. The numerical results demonstrate that with respect to the conventional optical feedback (COF) scenario, the injection-locking chaos synchronization in a PCF-ECSLs configuration shows a significantly wider high-quality synchronization region and excellent feasibility, and the performance of chaos communication can also be enhanced.

Simultaneous bandwidth-enhanced and time delay signature-suppressed chaos generation in semiconductor laser subject to feedback from parallel coupling ring resonators.

We propose and demonstrate an external-feedback semiconductor laser-based chaos generation scheme supporting simultaneous bandwidth enhancement and excellent time-delay-signature (TDS) suppression, by using parallel-coupling ring resonators (PCRR) as reflector. The characteristics of effective bandwidth and TDS of chaotic signals generated in three indicative PCRR configurations are thoroughly investigated. The numerical results demonstrate that with the nonlinear feedback of PCRR, the TDS of chaos can be efficiently suppressed toward an indistinguishable level, and the bandwidth of chaos in the proposed scheme can also be enhanced, with respect to the conventional optical feedback configuration. The proposed scheme shows a flexible way to generate wideband complex chaos.

Wideband complex-enhanced chaos generation using a semiconductor laser subject to delay-interfered self-phase-modulated feedback.

A wideband complexity-enhanced chaos generation scheme is proposed by using a semiconductor laser subject to delay-interfered self-phase-modulated optical feedback. The influences of feedback strength, phase modulation index, and interference delay on the effective bandwidth and time-delay-signature (TDS) characteristics of the proposed scheme-generated chaos are extensively investigated both experimentally and numerically. The results demonstrate that with the joint effects of phase modulation-induced spectrum expansion and nonlinear filtering of delayed interference, wideband chaos with flat spectrum and excellent TDS suppression characteristics can be generated over a wide dynamic operation range. In comparisons with the relevant chaos generation schemes under conventional optical feedback, individual self-phase modulated optical feedback, and delay-interfered optical feedback, the proposed scheme cannot only significantly enhance the effective bandwidth of chaos but also considerably enhance the complexity of chaos by suppressing the TDS toward an indistinguishable level close to 0.

Physical secure optical communication based on private chaotic spectral phase encryption/decryption.

We propose and demonstrate a novel physical, secure high-speed optical communication scheme based on synchronous chaotic spectral phase encryption (CSPE) and decryption (CSPD). The CSPE is performed by a module composed of two dispersion components and one phase modulator (PM) between them, and the CSPD is carried out by a twin module with reverse dispersions and inverse PM driving signals. The PM driving signals of the CSPE and CSPD modules are privately synchronized chaotic signals that are independently generated by local external-cavity semiconductor lasers subject to common injection. The numerical results indicate that with the CSPE, the original message can be encrypted as a noise-like signal, and the timing clock of the original message is efficiently hidden in the encrypted signal. Based on the private synchronization of the chaotic PM driving signals, only the legal receiver can decrypt the message correctly, while the eavesdropper is not able to intercept a useful message. Moreover, the proposed scheme can also support secure symmetric bidirectional high-speed WDM transmissions. This work shows a prospective way to implement high-speed secure optical communications at the physical layer.

Correlated random bit generation based on common-signal-induced synchronization of wideband complex physical entropy sources.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, correlated random bit generation (CRBG) scheme in virtue of the synchronization of two physical entropy sources that are composed of a continuous-wave laser, a phase modulator that is driven by the output of a local laser subject to constant-amplitude and random-phase (CARP) injection, as well as a dispersive component. It is experimentally indicated that wideband complex physical entropy sources with an effective bandwidth of 22 GHz can be achieved, and high-quality synchronization with a large cross-correlation coefficient (∼0.95) can be achieved by introducing symmetric CARP injections into the local lasers at Alice and Bob ends. Based on this, two distributed CRBSs with a bit rate over 3 Gb/s and satisfactory consistency are independently generated at Alice and Bob ends; the excellent randomness of CRBSs is verified using a test suite of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Generation of broadband chaos with perfect time delay signature suppression by using self-phase-modulated feedback and a microsphere resonator.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a broadband chaos generation scheme by introducing self-phase modulation (SPM) in the feedback loop of an external-cavity semiconductor laser and propagating the chaos through a microsphere resonator (MR). Four chaos generation cases-conventional optical feedback (COF), COF+MR, individual SPM optical feedback (SPMOF), and the proposed SPMOF+MR-are experimentally discussed. The experimental results demonstrate that with respect to the other three cases, in the proposed scheme with the joint effects of SPMOF and MR, the relaxation oscillation effect in chaos can be eliminated and a flat RF spectrum with much more significant bandwidth enhancement can be achieved. Simultaneously, the time delay signature (TDS) in the chaos can be perfectly suppressed at a very low level close to 0 in a wide operation range of feedback. This work shows a novel scheme to generate broadband chaos with flat spectrum and perfect TDS suppression.

Chaos synchronization and communication in closed-loop semiconductor lasers subject to common chaotic phase-modulated feedback.

We propose and demonstrate a closed-loop chaos system composed of external-cavity semiconductor lasers subject to common chaotic phase-modulated optical feedback (CCPMOF). The efficient-bandwidth and time-delay signature (TDS) characteristics of the chaotic carrier, the properties of chaos synchronization, as well as the performance and security of chaos communication are systematically investigated. The numerical results demonstrate that wideband chaotic carrier with effective TDS suppression can be easily obtained, high-quality chaos synchronization with considerable mismatch robustness, frequency detuning tolerance, and phase fluctuation tolerance can be achieved in a wide operation range, and high-speed chaos communication is available. With respect to the conventional closed-loop systems, the bandwidth and complexity of chaotic carrier is greatly enhanced, and the performances of chaos synchronization and communication are obviously improved.