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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Researchers have increased the speed [theregister.co.uk] of quantum key distribution [wikipedia.org] from hundreds of kilobits to megabits per second:

Researchers have packed extra information onto single photons to speed up quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. QKD uses a characteristic of quantum mechanics to protect keys used to encrypt data using classical crypto schemes: if Eve tries to snoop on the key Alice is sending Bob, the quantum state/s a photon carries are destroyed. Alice and Bob know there's an eavesdropper, and the key Eve eavesdropped is useless.

However, compared to conventional telecommunications systems, QKD is slow: most systems based on photon-by-photon transmission of crypto keys run at speeds of hundreds of kilobits per second.

Research from Duke University's Nurul Taimur Islam, with collaborators from Ohio State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National University of Singapore, achieved megabit key distribution rates using off-the-shelf components, meaning existing photonic QKD systems could be adapted to use it their work. In a paper based on research funded by the United States Navy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), published in Science Advances [sciencemag.org] [open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1701491] [DX [doi.org]] and available as pre-press at arXiv [arxiv.org], the researchers explained that to get faster key distribution rates, they worked to overcome the limits on photon detectors' speed.

Also at Engadget [engadget.com].

Related: Secure Computing for Everybody [soylentnews.org]
Reflective Satellites may be the Future of High-end Encryption [soylentnews.org]
Quantum Video Chat Links Scientists on Two Different Continents [soylentnews.org]

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