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quantum dots head

A new form of quantum dot has been developed by an international team of researchers that tin produce identical photons at will, paving the way for multiple revolutionary new uses for lite. Many upcoming breakthrough technologies volition require a source of multiple lone photons with identical properties, and for the first time these researchers may take an efficient way to make them. With these quantum dots at their disposal, engineers might be able to starting time thinking well-nigh new, large-scale breakthrough communications networks.

The reason nosotros need identical photons for quantum advice comes back to the non-quantum idea of cardinal distribution. From a mathematics perspective, it's trivially like shooting fish in a barrel to encrypt any message then thatnobody can read information technology, but very hard to encrypt a message so simplysome select individuals can read information technology, and nobody else. The reason is key distribution: if everybody who needs to decrypt a message has the associated key needed for decryption, then no problem. So how do you get the central to everyone who needs to decrypt it?

This Stanford invention helps handle entangled photons, but does it introduce vulnerabilities in the process?

This Stanford invention helps handle entangled photons, but does it introduce vulnerabilities in the process?

Quantum key distribution uses the ability of quantum physics to provide bear witness of surveillance. Rather than making it impossible to intercept the key, and thus decrypt the message, breakthrough primal distribution simply makes information technology incommunicable to secretly intercept the cardinal, thus giving the sender of the message warning that they should try once again with a new key until one gets through successfully. One time you lot're sure that your intended recipient has the key, and just as importantly that nobody else has it, so you could transport the actual encrypted file via smoke bespeak if you really wanted to — at that betoken, the security of the transmission itself really shouldn't affair.

There has been some promising research in this field — it's non to be confused with the much more preliminary work on using quantum entanglement to transfer data in such a manner that it literally does not traverse the intervening space.That may come along anytime, but not for a long, long time.

Regardless, 1 of the big problems with implementing quantum key distribution is that the optical technology necessary to get these surveillance-aware signals from sender to recipient just aren't in that location. In particular, the wavelength of photons changes as they motility downward an optical fiber — not good, since creating photon with precise attributes is the whole source of quantum security.

An Optalysys optical computer, on a desktop

An Optalysys optical computer, on a desktop. Quantum dot applied science could allow photons, not electrons, to bulldoze next-gen computer processors.

And then, unless you're less than one quantum dot's range away from the person you lot desire to talk to, quantum security wouldn't work; a theoretical quantum repeater would insert too much incertitude about the wavelength of any lite information technology ferried along. With this technology, it could be possible ferry quantum cryptographic information beyond real-world distances, across or even between continents in the networked way of regular digital internet traffic.

These quantum dots basically reach perfect unmarried-photon emission by super-cooling the breakthrough dots and so the emitting atoms do not fluctuate. These fluctuations results in very slightly different emission wavelengths, so by slowing them with cryogenic temperatures, they reduce the point noise. This should let the re-emission of quantum key information in a reliable-enough form to preserve the quantum security setup.

Of course, quantum security isn't perfect. You can notwithstanding listen in on either the sender or receiver straight, or perhaps fifty-fifty notice a way to surveil these quantum dots themselves, reading each photon every bit it's absorbed and reemitted. Potential attackers could install optical splitters so they get and invalidate i re-create of the cardinal, while another arrives unmolested at its destination.

Short of telepathy, there will never be perfect communication security — not even quantum physics can change that.