Patent attributes
One embodiment provide a system and method for detecting eavesdropping while establishing secure communication between a local node and a remote node. During operation, the local node generates a random key and a regular optical signal based on the random key. The local node also generates a quantum optical signal based on a control sequence and a set of quantum state bases, and multiplexes the regular optical signal and the quantum optical signal to produce a hybrid optical signal. The local node transmits the hybrid optical signal to the remote node, sends information associated with the control sequence and information associated with the set of quantum state bases to the remote node, and receives an eavesdropping-detection result from the remote node based on measurement of the quantum optical signal, the information associated with the control sequence, and the information associated with the set of quantum state bases.