Quantum-key distribution for your cell phone

April 4, 2014
I've been on a smartphone-photonics kick lately, and I haven't stopped yet. I've discovered that quantum key distribution (QKD), a fundamentally quantum-mechanical way of securely communicating information, may one day be coming to your iPhone (or Android phone, of course).
John Wallace 720 5d24acb5b38c5

I've been on a smartphone-photonics kick lately, and I haven't stopped yet. I've discovered that quantum key distribution (QKD), a fundamentally quantum-mechanical way of securely communicating information, may one day be coming to your iPhone (or Android phone, of course).

A group of UK, Chinese, and Australian researchers has developed a telecom-fiber tethered QKD system that allows a mobile phone with a built-in on-chip polarization rotator to be plugged in via optical fiber to a computer such that supremely secure quantum-mechanical qubits are the means of transmitting a cryptographic key. After this supposedly completely secure transfer, the user unplugs his/her phone and walks away (with the phone, of course).

The research was led by scientists at the Centre for Quantum Photonics, located at the University of Bristol (Bristol, England); for more info, see P. Zhang et al., Physical Review Letters (2014); doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.130501

By the way, the Centre for Quantum Photonics has also made an authentic quantum computer called "Quantum in the Cloud" accessible to the public online. See http://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/research/quantum/qcloud/

About the Author

John Wallace | Senior Technical Editor (1998-2022)

John Wallace was with Laser Focus World for nearly 25 years, retiring in late June 2022. He obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and physics at Rutgers University and a master's in optical engineering at the University of Rochester. Before becoming an editor, John worked as an engineer at RCA, Exxon, Eastman Kodak, and GCA Corporation.

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