Secure communication in fiber optic systems via transmission of broad-band optical noise

We propose a new scheme for data encryption in the physical layer. Our scheme is based on the distribution of a broadband optical noise-like signal between Alice and Bob. The broadband signal is used for the establishment of a secret key that can be used for the secure transmission of information by using the one-time-pad method. We characterize the proposed scheme and study its applicability to the existing fiber-optics communications infrastructure. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.