KEY DISTRIBUTION IN A MULTIPLE ACCESS NETWORK USING QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY

摘要

In a method of quantum cryptography, a transmitter (T) communicates on a quantum channel with several receivers (R1-R3). The receivers are located on different branches of a common communications network. The method establishes a different respective secret key for each receiver. A timing pulse may be transmitted from the transmitter to the receivers to synchronise the receivers prior to a transmission on a quantum channel. The quantum channel may be multiplexed and transmitted concurrently with classical multi-photon transmissions on the network.