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Quantum Video Chat Links Scientists on Two Different Continents

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday October 03 2017, @08:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the yes-and-no dept.

rylyeh writes:

Hackers, take notice: Ultrasecure quantum video chats are now possible across the globe.

In a demonstration of the world's first intercontinental quantum link, scientists held a long-distance videoconference on September 29 between Austria and China. To secure the communication, a Chinese satellite distributed a quantum key, a secret string of numbers used to encrypt the video transmission so that no one could eavesdrop on the conversation. In the call, chemist Chunli Bai, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, spoke with quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.

"It's a huge achievement," says quantum physicist Thomas Jennewein of the University of Waterloo in Canada, who was not involved with the project. "It's a major step to show that this approach could be viable."

I can't wait to use this!

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  • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday October 04 2017, @08:45PM (6 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday October 04 2017, @08:45PM (#577168) Homepage

    The bits that make up the key are made up of the measured states of individual photons. You can't slice a bit off.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 04 2017, @09:03PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday October 04 2017, @09:03PM (#577185)

    So every single photon has to be received?

    Any time I've seen entanglement experiment details, it's been a statistical thing involving hundreds of photons, or more...

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 05 2017, @02:43AM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday October 05 2017, @02:43AM (#577289)

    Also, seems improbable that not a single photon would get lost between the satellite and ground stations...

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    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday October 05 2017, @04:20PM (3 children)

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Thursday October 05 2017, @04:20PM (#577496) Homepage

      They don't need to receive every photon. They'll ignore any moments when only one, or neither, of them receives a photon.

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      systemd is Roko's Basilisk

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 05 2017, @04:58PM (2 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday October 05 2017, @04:58PM (#577518)

        Then they will get an incomplete key. Most keys schemes are not tolerant of missing bits.

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        • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday October 06 2017, @03:40PM (1 child)

          by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday October 06 2017, @03:40PM (#578070) Homepage

          In QKD you end up discarding half the photons anyway. You only make the key out of the measured states of the photons that you both confirm to have received, and to have measured in the same way, which you confirm over the classical channel.

          --
          systemd is Roko's Basilisk