Physical Layer Security Based on Chaotic Spatial Symbol Transforming in Fiber-Optic Systems

We propose a chaotic spatial symbol transforming encryption method for enhancing the physical layer security in fiber-optic systems based on space-division multiplexed (SDM) transmission. The designed 3-D chaotic sequences are used to scramble the real and imaginary part of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) symbols, permute the symbol-to-space mapping, and control iteration times between the two processes. The encrypted transmission of 200 Gb/s per mode polarization-division-multiplexed 16QAM signals has been simulated over 1000-km two-mode fiber. The results show that the eavesdropper cannot recover the original information with a part of the security keys or a part of the transmitted signals when the iteration times are beyond 5. We found the error spreading phenomenon can be combined with the mode-dependent loss (MDL) to realize the system security enhancement. When eavesdroppers coupled signals out from SDM waveguide by bending-induced fiber tapping, they need reduce the bend radius to receive more spatial leak modes. The bending-induced fiber tapping inherently causes MDL. Although the error spreading phenomenon leads to bit-error-rate increasing by 1.3 dB than conventional 16QAM transmission, it will be a promising solution to overcome the weakness that the huge amount of data can be compromised by taping out the portion of the signal in single-mode transmission.