DESIGN OF QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY SYSTEMS FOR PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS

Quantum cryptography has been shown to be an effective technique for t he secure distribution of cryptographic keys on point-to-point communi cation links. The authors describe adaptations of the existing quantum cryptography protocols and equipment configurations. that allow secur e key distribution to be performed on a variety of multiuser passive o ptical network (PON) architectures. These adaptations enable the netwo rk controller on the PON to distribute individual secret keys to each user on the network, and hence to securely encrypt and authenticate su bsequent data transmissions broadcast on the network.