Experimental quantum cryptography scheme based on orthogonal states: preliminary results

Since, in general, non-orthogonal states cannot be cloned, any eavesdropping attempt in a Quantum Communication scheme using non-orthogonal states as carriers of information introduces some errors in the transmission, leading to the possibility of detecting the spy. Usually, orthogonal states are not used in Quantum Cryptography schemes since they can be faithfully cloned without altering the transmitted data. Nevertheless, L. Goldberg and L. Vaidman [Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (7), pp. 12391243, 1995] proposed a protocol in which, even if the data exchange is realized using two orthogonal states, any attempt to eavesdrop is detectable by the legal users. In this scheme the orthogonal states are superpositions of two localized wave packets which travel along separate channels, i.e. two different paths inside a balanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Here we present an experiment realizing this scheme.