A Quantum Network Manager that Supports a One-Time Pad Stream

Author

Mink, Alan ; Ma, Lijun ; Nakassis, Tassos ; Xu, Hai ; Slattery, Oliver ; Hershman, Barry ; Tang, Xiao

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg

fYear

2008

fDate

10-15 Feb. 2008

Firstpage

16

Lastpage

21

Abstract

We have begun to expand the NIST quantum key distribution (QKD) system into a quantum network to support secure cryptography. We are starting with a simple three-node network, one Alice switched between Bob1 and Bob2. To support such a quantum network, we have implemented a quantum network manager that not only handles the switch and QKD protocol startup operations but also handles multiplexing and synchronization of secret key streams. We describe the function, structure and interfaces of this quantum network manager and report on initial switching overhead. We also discuss some steps we plan to take to optimize that overhead as well as hide its latency for certain applications.

Keywords

quantum cryptography; telecommunication network management; one-time pad stream; quantum key distribution; quantum network manager; secure cryptography; Conference management; Cryptographic protocols; Cryptography; Delay; Error analysis; Hardware; NIST; Software algorithms; Switches; Wavelength division multiplexing; one-time pad; quantum key distribution; quantum key synchronization; quantum network; quantum protocol; secure communication;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Quantum, Nano and Micro Technologies, 2008 Second International Conference on

Conference_Location

Sainte Luce

Print_ISBN

978-0-7695-3085-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICQNM.2008.8

Filename

4455925