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Unlike Bilbo's magic ring, which entangles human hearts, engineers have created a new micro-ring that entangles individual particles of light, an important first step in a whole host of new technologies.
Entanglement - the instantaneous connection between two particles no matter their distance apart - is one of the most intriguing and promising phenomena in all of physics. Properly harnessed, entangled photons could revolutionize computing, communications, and cyber security. Though readily created in the lab and by comparatively large-scale optoelectronic components, a practical source of entangled photons that can fit onto an ordinary computer chip has been elusive.
New research, reported today in The Optical Society's (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, describes how a team of scientists has developed, for the first time, a microscopic component that is small enough to fit onto a standard silicon chip that can generate a continuous supply of entangled photons.
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-entanglement-chip-breakthrough-faster.html
[Abstract]: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-2-2-88
[Paper]: http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.4881
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @08:28AM
Quantum key distribution [wikipedia.org] uses entangled particles to ensure both sides receive the same random message without it being intercepted. As you can't chose the message, you use the quantum channel for a key (either a one-time pad or something more complicated if your quantum channel is slower than your desired data rate) and send data encrypted with that key over a conventional data connection.