Apostolos Argyris

Chaos-based communications at high bit rates using commercial fibre-optic links

Chaotic signals have been proposed as broadband information carriers with the potential of providing a high level of robustness and privacy in data transmission. Laboratory demonstrations of chaos-based optical communications have already shown the potential of this technology, but a field experiment using commercial optical networks has not been undertaken so far. Here we demonstrate high-speed long-distance communication based on chaos synchronization over a commercial fibre-optic channel. An optical carrier wave generated by a chaotic laser is used to encode a message for transmission over 120 km of optical fibre in the metropolitan area network of Athens, Greece. The message is decoded using an appropriate second laser which, by synchronizing with the chaotic carrier, allows for the separation of the carrier and the message. Transmission rates in the gigabit per second range are achieved, with corresponding bit-error rates below 10-7. The system uses matched pairs of semiconductor lasers as chaotic emitters and receivers, and off-the-shelf fibre-optic telecommunication components. Our results show that information can be transmitted at high bit rates using deterministic chaos in a manner that is robust to perturbations and channel disturbances unavoidable under real-world conditions.

Implementation of 140 Gb/s true random bit generator based on a chaotic photonic integrated circuit

In the present work a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that emits broadband chaotic signals is employed for ultra-fast generation of true random bit sequences. Chaotic dynamics emerge from a DFB laser, accompanied by a monolithic integrated 1-cm long external cavity (EC) that provides controllable optical feedback. The short length minimizes the existence of external cavity modes, so flattened broadband spectra with minimized intrinsic periodicities can emerge. After sampling and quantization--without including optical de-correlation techniques and using most significant bits (MSB) elimination post-processing--truly random bit streams with bit-rates as high as 140 Gb/s can be generated. Finally, the extreme robustness of the random bit generator for adaptive bit-rate operation and for various operating conditions of the PIC is demonstrated.

Chaos-on-a-chip secures data transmission in optical fiber links.

Security in information exchange plays a central role in the deployment of modern communication systems. Besides algorithms, chaos is exploited as a real-time high-speed data encryption technique which enhances the security at the hardware level of optical networks. In this work, compact, fully controllable and stably operating monolithic photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that generate broadband chaotic optical signals are incorporated in chaos-encoded optical transmission systems. Data sequences with rates up to 2.5 Gb/s with small amplitudes are completely encrypted within these chaotic carriers. Only authorized counterparts, supplied with identical chaos generating PICs that are able to synchronize and reproduce the same carriers, can benefit from data exchange with bit-rates up to 2.5Gb/s with error rates below 10(-12). Eavesdroppers with access to the communication link experience a 0.5 probability to detect correctly each bit by direct signal detection, while eavesdroppers supplied with even slightly unmatched hardware receivers are restricted to data extraction error rates well above 10(-3).

Feedback Phase in Optically Generated Chaos: A Secret Key for Cryptographic Applications

The feedback phase in a chaotic system consisting of a semiconductor laser subject to delayed optical feedback is considered for the first time as a secret key for secure chaotic communications not exclusively based on hardware uniqueness. Extensive numerical simulations illustrate that the feedback phase is of extreme importance as far as synchronization is concerned. The ability of an eavesdropper to attack the intensity-modulated message when a pseudorandom variation of the feedback phase is imposed at the transmitters side is numerically quantified by bit-error-rate calculations. The analysis demonstrates that the eavesdropper is not able to synchronize and hence to extract the message when he is not aware of the phase variations even if he is equipped with an identical chaotic device.

Performance characterization of high-bit-rate optical chaotic communication systems in a back-to-back configuration

A comparative study of three data-encoding techniques in optical chaotic communication systems is reported. The chaotic carrier is generated by a semiconductor laser subjected to optical feedback and the data are encoded on it by chaotic modulation (CM), chaotic masking (CMS), or chaotic shift keying (CSK) methods. In all cases, the receiver-which is directly connected to the transmitter-consists of a semiconductor laser similar to that of the transmitter subjected to the same optical feedback. The performance of this back to back configuration is numerically tested by calculating the Q-factor of the eye diagram of the received data for different bit rates from 1 to 20 Gb/s. The CM scheme appears to have the best performance relative to the CMS and CSK scheme, before and after filtering the residual high-frequency oscillations remaining due to nonperfect synchronization between the transmitter and receiver. Moreover, in all encoding methods, a decrease in the Q-factor is observed when the repetition bit-rate of the encoding message increases. In order to achieve as high Q-factor values as possible, a well-synchronized chaotic master-slave system is required.

Sub-Tb/s Physical Random Bit Generators Based on Direct Detection of Amplified Spontaneous Emission Signals

The most common optical amplified spontaneous emission sources can become the ultimate tools for the generation of ultra-broadband truly random bit sequences (TRBS). By using a straightforward configuration we experimentally prove that the amplified spontaneous emission noise of an optical amplifier-either an Er+3 -doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) or an InGaAs semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-is an efficient source for TRBS generation. A bit rate up to 560 Gb/s has been recorded, seeded by the direct detection of the unfiltered spontaneous-spontaneous (sp-sp) optical intensity beat noise on a broadband photoreceiver. The generation rate is practically limited only by the detection bandwidth, the electronic digitization process and the post-processing circuitry. The proposed mechanism passes the existing benchmarks of randomness.

High-Speed All-Optical First- and Second-Order Differentiators Based on Cross-Phase Modulation in Fibers

An ultrafast all-optical differentiator generating the first- and the second-order temporal derivative of the intensity of optical signals is presented in this paper. Differentiation is obtained via an optical fiber that plays the role of an optical phase modulator, an optical bandpass filter and a photodetector. The operation of the proposed device is theoretically studied in order to highlight significant parameters that affect the performance of the differentiator, namely the filter transfer function, the power of the propagating waves and the fiber characteristics (length and nonlinear coefficient). The comparison between the numerically calculated derivatives and the theoretically expected ones is performed by estimating the correlation coefficient between them. According to the numerical analysis, high correlation coefficients can be achieved in certain operating regimes. The same device can be utilized in order to produce ultrawideband (UWB) impulse signals. Electrical monocycle or doublet pulses can be obtained at the output of the photodetector (PD) using the proper tunable optical filter. Experimental verification of the theoretically predicted and numerically calculated results is finally presented for high bit-rate signals.

Experimental evaluation of an open-loop all-optical chaotic communication system

An experimental investigation of the performance of an open-loop optical chaotic communication system has been carried out under different optical injection conditions. The most popular message encoding techniques have been considered, tested and compared at gigabit rates and for different levels of optical injection to the receiver, by bit-error-rate (BER) measurements. Different low-pass electrical filters have been implemented for the various message bit-rates tested, in order to employ the most appropriate one for message decoding. The best performance of all the examined encryption methods for messages of 1.5 Gb/s bit-rate emerged for the chaos modulation encryption method and was characterized by Q-factor values up to 5.1, after synchronizing in the strong injection regime, while the corresponding BER of the decoded message was as low as 7/spl middot/10/sup -5/. In order to confirm the secure encryption of the message, BER measurements are also performed for the chaotic carrier into which the message is encrypted.

Numerical investigation of fiber transmission of a chaotic encrypted message using dispersion compensation schemes

A detailed numerical investigation of the transmission properties of all-optical chaotic communication systems is presented for two data-encoding techniques and for various dispersion compensation maps. A semiconductor laser subjected to optical feedback generates the chaotic carrier, and the data is encoded on it by chaotic modulation (CM) or chaotic-shift-keying (CSK) methods. The complete transmission module consists of different types of fiber, inline amplifiers, and Gaussian optical filters. Different dispersion maps based on either Nonzero dispersion-shifted fibers (NZ-DSFs) or combinations of single-mode fibers (SMF) along with dispersion-compensating fibers (DCF) were considered. The systems performance is numerically tested by calculating the Q factor of the eye diagram of the received data for 1 and 2.4 Gb/s. The influence of the optical power launched into fiber and the transmission distance to the quality of the decoded message has been investigated. The CSK scheme appears to have better performance relative to the CM scheme, while dispersion maps utilizing NZ-DSFs are superior to that employing DCF. In all encoding methods and transmission maps, a decrease in the Q factor is observed when the repetition bit rate of the encoding message and the transmission distance increases.

Transmission Effects in Wavelength Division Multiplexed Chaotic Optical Communication Systems

In this study we present the influence imposed by the coexistence of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channels on a chaotic optical communication system tested in an installed network environment. Both conventional carriers that carry 10 Gb/s data sequences and chaotic carriers used for data-encrypted channel transmission have been considered in a dense WDM configuration. Inter-channel interference, channel polarization and cross-phase modulation are some dominant phenomena identified to affect the synchronization process of well-match chaotic optical oscillators. The efficiency of data recovery of the conventional and chaos encrypted channels is analyzed. 1.25 Gb/s data sequences, that are completely hidden propagate along the transmission link, are finally recovered by the authorized receiver-using forward error correction (FEC) methods-with bit error rates (BER) below 10-12, for channel spacing of 0.8 nm and in parallel polarized adjacent channels. When orthogonal polarization states are employed the channel spacing can be further reduced to 0.65 nm without sacrificing in the recovery performance.