APPLICATION OF QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION FOR MUTUAL IDENTIFICATION - EXPERIMENTAL REALIZATION

A secure.quantum identification system combining a classical identific ation procedure and quantum key distribution is proposed. Each identif ication sequence is always used just once and new sequences are ''refu elled'' from a shared secret key transferred over a. quantum channel T he question of authentication of information sent over a public channe l is discussed. An apparatus using two unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interfe rometers has been built, and quantum key distribution and ''quantum id entification'' have been successfully tested-through a single-mode opt ical fibre at 830 nm, employing low intensity coherent-states (below 0 .1 photons per pulse).