Paving the way toward 800 Gbps quantum-secured optical channel deployment in mission-critical environments
Marco Pistoia, Omar Hassan Amer, Monik Raj Behera, Joseph A. Dolphin, J. F. Dynes, Benny John, Paul Anthony Haigh, Yasushi Kawakura, David H Kramer, Jeffrey Lyon, Navid Moazzami, Tulasi D. Movva, Antigoni Polychroniadou, Suresh Shetty, Greg Sysak, Farzam Toudeh-Fallah, Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay, Robert I. Woodward, Andrew J. Shields · Quantum Science and Technology · 2023
Abstract This article describes experimental research studies conducted toward understanding the implementation aspects of high-capacity quantum-secured optical channels in mission-critical metro-scale operational environments using quantum key distribution (QKD) technology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an 800 Gbps quantum-secured optical channel—along with several other dense wavelength division multiplexed channels on the C-band and multiplexed with the QKD channel on the O-band-was established at distances up to 100 km, with secret key-rates relevant for practical industry use cases. In addition, during the course of these trials, transporting a blockchain application over this established channel was utilized as a demonstration of securing a financial transaction in transit over a quantum-secured optical channel. The findings of this research pave the way toward the deployment of QKD-secured optical channels in high-capacity, metro-scale, mission-critical operational environments, such as Inter-Data Center Interconnects.