A transmitting device and a receiving device independently generate shared encryption keys by exchanging a ternary datastream composed of trits encoded by polarized photons generated and measured using one of two polarization orientations. The first orientation defines two mutually-orthogonal polarization axes and a mixed polarization state formed by a combination of the two axes for that orientation. The second orientation also define two mutually-orthogonal polarization axes and a mixed polarization state formed by a combination of the two axes for that orientation. The mutually-orthogonal axes of one orientation are combinations of the mutually-orthogonal axes of the other orientation. The sender and receiver independently choose an orientation for each trit and use trits where each party's polarization orientations agree to determine addresses in separate cryptographic tables belonging to each party. Information retrieved or generated using data in the cryptographic tables is used by both parties to independently generate the same encryption key.
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