Private free-space communications based on chaos synchronization of mid-infrared quantum cascade laser light*

Free Space Optics (FSO) is a growing technology offering higher bandwidth with fast and cost-effective deployment compared to fiber technology. This work demonstrates private free-space communication with quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). The secret message is encoded into a chaotic waveform so that the information is hard for an eavesdropper to extract [1]. Chaos-based transmissions in FSO are fundamentally restricted by atmospheric phenomena (e.g., turbulence, fog or scattering). Thus, the operating wavelength is a key parameter that has to be chosen wisely to reduce the impact of the environmental parameters. In this context, QCLs are relevant semiconductor lasers because their optical wavelength lies within mid-infrared domains where the atmosphere is highly transparent [2]. The simplest way to generate a chaotic optical carrier from a QCL is to feed back part of its emitted light into the device after a certain time delay [3], beyond which chaos synchronization between the drive and the response QCLs occurs.

[1] A. Argyris et al., Nature 438.7066 (2005): 343-346.
[2] X. Pang et al., Optics letters 42.18 (2017): 3646-3649.
[3] L. Jumpertz et al., Light: Science & Applications 5.6 (2016): e16088.