Recent Press Releases
Researchers unite to distribute quantum keys
Institute of Physics Press Release
PR23 (09)
Tue, 7 July 2009
Researchers from across Europe have united to build the largest quantum key distribution network ever built. The efforts of 41 research and industrial organisations were realised as secure, quantum encrypted information was sent over an eight node, mesh network.
With an average link length of 20 to 30 kilometres, and the longest link being 83 kilometres, the researchers from organisations such as the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology (formerly Austrian Research Centers), id Quantique, Toshiba Research in the UK, Université de Genève, the University of Vienna, CNRS, Thales, LMU Munich, Siemens, and many more have broken all previous records and taken another huge stride towards practical implementation of secure, quantum-encrypted communication networks.
A new research paper, ‘The SECOQC Key Distribution Network in Vienna’,
published as part of a Focus Issue on ‘Quantum Cryptography: Theory and
Practice’ in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics
and the German Physical Society), illustrates the operation of the network
and gives an initial estimate for transmission capacity (the maximum amount
of keys that can be exchanged on a quantum key distribution, QKD, network).
Undertaken in late 2008, using the company internal glass fibre ring of Siemens and 4 of its dependencies across Vienna plus a repeater station, near St. Pölten in Lower Austria, the QKD demonstration involved secure telephone communication and video-conference as well as a rerouting experiment which demonstrated the functionality of the SEcure COmmunication network based on Quantum Cryptography (SECOQC).
One of the first practical applications to emerge from advances in the sometimes baffling study of quantum mechanics, quantum cryptography has become a soon-to-be reached benchmark in secure communications.
Quantum mechanics describes the fundamental nature of matter at the atomic level and offers very intriguing, often counter-intuitive, explanations to help us understand the building blocks that construct the world around us. Quantum cryptography uses the quantum mechanical behaviour of photons, the fundamental particles of light, to enable highly secure transmission of data beyond that achievable by classical methods.
The photons themselves are used to distribute cryptographic key to access encrypted information, such as a highly sensitive transaction file that, say, a bank wishes to keep completely confidential, which can be sent along practical communication lines, made of fibre optics. Quantum indeterminacy, the quantum mechanics dictum which states that measuring an unknown quantum state will change it, means that the information cannot be accessed by a third party without corrupting it beyond recovery and therefore making the act of hacking futile.
The researchers write, “In our paper we have put forward, for the first time, a systematic design that allows unrestricted scalability and interoperability of QKD technologies.”
Notes to editors:
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the authors, contact IOP Press Officer, Joe Winters:
Tel: 020 7470 4815
Mobile: 07946 321473
E-mail: joseph.winters@iop.org
The SECOQC Quantum Key Distribution Network in Vienna
2. The published version of the paper "The SECOQC Quantum Key Distribution Network in Vienna" (Peev M et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 075001) will be freely available online from Thursday, 2 July. It will be available at http://stacks.iop.org/NJP/11/075001.
Focus on Quantum Cryptography: Theory and Practice
3. This article features as part of an invited focus issue on the topic of 'Quantum Cryptography: Theory and Practice' edited by Norbert Lütkenhaus and Andrew Shields. The issue includes papers reporting the latest research developments that tackle practical issues, such as increasing the range and bit rate of quantum-cryptographic links and progressing the technology from point-to-point protocols to quantum communication networks, as well as covering theoretical developments to prove the security of these schemes. All articles are permanently free to read and can be found at http://stacks.iop.org/NJP/11/045005.
New Journal of Physics
4. New Journal of Physics, co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society, is an electronic-only, open-access journal publishing original research from across the whole of physics. All articles are permanently free to read at http://www.njp.org.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP.
Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we’re continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://publishing.iop.org/.
The Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of more than 36 000 and is a leading communicator of physics-related science to all audiences, from specialists through to government and the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics. Go to www.iop.org.
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