1. “If you think you understand quantum
mechanics, you don’t understand quantum
mechanics.”
~Richard Feynman
2. Today’s transistor based technology is reaching it’s physical
limits due to the laws of mother nature. The next sensible
step is find a way to harness the properties of quantum
mechanics to keep up with humanity’s increasing demand
for data and communications. Quantum computing and
communications is currently being developed in R&D labs
all over the world and the next generation of ‘disruptive
technology’ is already in use or projected to be
commercially available by 2021, and can be implemented
through existing fiber-optic lines and satellite laser
communication terminals… Or possibly something new.
3. • The Truth Table
• Quantum Computing Basics
• Quantum ‘Arms Race’
• Quantum Key Distribution
• Quantum Network
Communication
4. • The quantum technology revolution’s near-future impact
Q A
Will it create new industries? YES
Will make other industries obsolete? YES
Will it allow me to talk to a 35,000yr old Neanderthal named ‘Ramtha’? NO
Will it allow for deep-space imaging without spacial related time-delays? MAYBE
Will it help me to heal disease with the power of by mind? NO
Will it help develop more effective diagnostics and treatments for diseases? YES
Will it make humans dumber? NO
Will it make humans smarter? MAYBE
Will teenagers find a way to use it to have sex? YES
6. • From Bits, to Qubits
• The quantum bit (qubit) is the fundamental unit of quantum computation.
• Unlike conventional binary bits, a qubit can enter a “superposition state”
• Only one classical bit can be extracted from one qubit corresponding to
the measurement result.
Image; "How to Compute with Schrödinger's Cat: An Introduction to Quantum Computing“, StanfordOnline, 2016
7. • Quantum circuit model
• Start with a known quantum state (input data)
• Apply a sequence of 1 or 2 qubit logic gates
• Measure to obtain final answer
• Adiabatic quantum computation
• Define a Hamiltonian [ Hf ] with a ground state that is the solution
to a computational problem
• Evolve system slowly along a path between [ H0 => Hf ]
• Measure to obtain the answer
• Measurement based computation
• Start with highly entangled state
• Make a series of single qubit measurements
• Interpret of measurements to obtain answer
8. • Ion traps
• Use optical or magnetic fields (or a combination of both) to trap
ions
• Optical traps
• Use light waves to trap and control particles
• Quantum dots
• Are made of semiconductor material and are used to contain and
manipulate electrons
• Semiconductor impurities
• Contain electrons by using "unwanted" atoms found in
semiconductor material
• Superconducting circuits
• Allow electrons to flow with almost no resistance at very low
temperatures
9. • Diamond with nitrogen vacancies
• Room-temperature quantum memory based on the spin of the nitrogen
nucleus intrinsic to each nitrogen–vacancy.
• Yttrium silicate doped with europium
• Strong magnetic field creates a "frozen core" in which all the spins of the
europium atom's electrons stay put to slow decoherence. Maximum time
for storing quantum information in the spin-state is appox. 6 hours.
• Europium atoms receive the state of a photon and then emit a new photon
that's sent further down the communication chain, limiting the loss of
photons that naturally occur over longer fiber-optic connections.
• Current suggestions include a sneakernet approach for transporting
quantum memory between localized networks.
10. Image; “Quantum imaging finally saves Schrödinger's cat“ Belfast, 11 September, 2014. Andor.com
• Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) is a process in which a laser
beam incident on a nonlinear crystal leads to the emission of correlated photon pairs
called signal and idler.
• SPDC creates harmonic orders for coherent energy frequencies.
11. • Entangled qmode frequency comb processing uses an Optical Parametric Oscillator
(OPO) and involves weaving quantum optical frequency combs into continuous-
variable hypercubic cluster states.
• This particular approach is intriguing in that it’s using interference via ‘quantum-wire’
sequences for one-way computing.
Image from: “Time- and frequency-resolved quantum optics for large-scale quantum computing” 25 February 2016, spie.com
Image from: “weaving quantum optical frequency combs into continuous-variable hypercubic cluster states”24 Sept. 2014, Physical Review
12. • Simple circuits based around the light-splitter create the logic gates
• University of Bristol’s 2-Qubit chip
• Future chip designs are based on these circuits
Image; “Bristol University Offers Cloud Access To Quantum Chip“ 6 Sept., 2013. techweekeurope.co.uk
13. • Usable large-scale processors require Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, in
which more than two photons are entangled.
• Due to the nature of quantum mechanics, scientists must sometimes randomly guess
the best hardware configuration is to obtain this.
• Utilizing AI to do all the random guessing is a more efficient design approach.
Image; “Quantum mechanics is so weird that scientists need AI to design experiments“ 6 March, 2016. cnet.com
14. • There’s only one thing weirder than quantum mechanics, and better than AI at
assisting in the design of quantum computers. People from the internet.
• Some of the problems slowing down the design of reliable quantum technologies have
the potential of being solved by anyone. Even your cat.
Image; Somebody from the internet
15. • meQuanics game for quantum hardware design
• Quantum Moves game simulating photon teleportation
Images; mequanics.com.au &
scienceathome.org
17. • D-Wave only solves problems expressed in a linear equation
• Conventional 'universal' computers require many iterations to find the optimal set of
values for this optimization.
• D-Wave uses an application-specific quantum effect called tunneling to solve the
same problems in a single cycle.
• ‘Universal’ computers use a logic-gate based model for computation.
• D-Wave uses an adiabatic (occurring without loss or gain of heat) superconducting
model for annealing.
18. • Annealing for Optimization Problems:
• Certain problems are considered NP because the algorithms easily used by
transistor-based computers become increasingly inefficient at solving them as
the data set grows in size.
“Traveling Salesman Problem Visualization – Simulated Annealing”
19. • Applications include:
• Protein folding
• Image recognition
• AI music generation
• Data compression
• Faster unstructured searches
• Logistics for delivery routes, air traffic
control and interstellar flight trajectories
• Communications routing
• Code breaking
by Emerging Technology from the arXiv February 24, 2016
20. • IBM
• IBM’s chip with four qubits arranged in a square can detect both bit
and phase flip based errors.
• Rigetti
• Startup developing a fault-tolerant gate-based solid state quantum
processor.
Image; ”IBM demonstrates superconducting quantum computer“ 2015, kurzweilai.net
21. • Microsoft
• Funding research into using the majorana fermion, an exotic particle that behaves
simultaneously like matter and antimatter, but in a stable manner that interacts
weakly with it’s environment and makes it resistant to quantum decoherence.
• Released the LIQUi|〉 circuit simulator as part of their Station Q project for fermionic
topological qubit computations.
Image; Microsoft, 2016
22. • Alcatel-Lucent
• Bell Labs theoretical quantum information work is focused on algorithms,
topological quantum computation, and quantum error-correcting codes.
• Experimental research teams are designing and fabricating micro-ion-traps and
optical lattices for cold trapped atoms to be used in large-scale quantum
computing, and exploring multi-channel gigahertz-rate quantum cryptography.
Image; ” Circuit for topological qubit” 2016, Quanta Magazine
23. • Pseudo-Random Number Generation (PRNG) uses deterministic algorithms to
produce keys.
• A traditional computer performs calculations sequentially, making RSA-1024(and
2048) difficult to break without knowing the initialization vector and algorithm used, but
if these variables are known the key can be found due this determinism.
Image; Lutece Twins - BioShock Infinite
24. • A Quantum computer utilizing Shor’s factoring method can crack standard PK
encryption systems by performing all calculations simultaneously. Like the ones
used when trading keys for AES encoded communications.
• Things may get very ‘WikiLeaks’ once this is possible as many entities globally are
slurping up and saving encrypted data in anticipation of being able to read it sometime
in the next 10 years.
Image; Internet memes and Zero Wing
25. • The following encryption types still seem ‘safe’:
• Code Based
• Hash Based
• Lattice Based
• Multivariate Quadratic Equations
• One Time Pad
• Application of Grover’s algorithm will significantly reduce the time
required to brute-force a key.
• All known forms of encryption utilizing math-based key generation
will become significantly weaker.
26. Random Number Generation, How QKD works, Commercial QKD, Hacking QKD
Image; “Jolly Phi” from Quantum Hacking Group, NTNU Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunications
27. • Using photons and a semi-transparent
mirror, a random number sequence can be
generated because the photons will pass
through the mirror only 50% of the time.
• IDQuantique & MagiQ use QRNG’s as a
component for QKD systems. Quantum RNGs
are also employed by lotteries and other
industries that rely on truly random numbers.
• There’s a IDQ brand random number
generator online via University of Geneva
Image; Respective Companies
28. • Utilizing the One Time Pad encryption and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle,
quantum key distribution is provably secure.
• Unlike classical key distribution algorithms such as Diffie-Hellman key exchange, QKD
provides security through physical properties rather than the difficulty of a
mathematical problem.
• Eavesdropping will destroy the key because some of the quantum information will be
lost.
• When the error rate is below a certain threshold, (about 3%) the channel can be
considered secure.
Image; IDQ & unknown
29. • Alice finds random values for
key bits.
• Alice transmits each value,
encoded in a non-orthogonal
basis on a ‘single photon’.
• Bob randomly selects a basis
and measures each photon he
receives.
• Alice & Bob determine
matching bases, and discard
all other bits ( sifting ).
• Assuming no errors, Alice and
Bob now share matching keys.
Image; Unknown
32. • Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol with Decoy States
• SARG04 & T12
• More promising as a cost effective attenuated laser based MDI homodyne
encoding standards
• Enhanced security with longer range
2015 IDQ., All Rights Reserved
33. • T12 protocol
• This makes bit sifting much more efficient, nearly doubling performance under
many conditions.
• It allows key distribution over standard telecom fibre links exceeding 100 km in
length and bit rates sufficient to generate 1 Megabit per second of key material
over a distance of 50 km.
2015 Toshiba Research Europe Ltd., All Rights Reserved
34. • Cerberis QKD Server
• The Cerberis QKD server works in conjunction with Centauris encryptors for high-
speed encryption based on the proven Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
• Point-to-point wire-speed encryption with minimum latency and no packet
expansion is made possible by operating at the layer 2 of the OSI model.
Standard network protocols up to a bandwidth of 10Gbps are supported.
• These encryptors have received stringent security accreditation (Common Criteria
EAL4+ and FIPS 140-2).
2015 IDQ., All Rights Reserved
35. • Cerberis QKD Blade
• Building block for extended quantum backbones
• P-2-P data center interconnects
• Clavis2 QKD Platform For R&D
• Consists of two stations controlled by one or two external
computers. A comprehensive software suite implements
automated hardware operation and complete key
distillation. Two quantum cryptography protocols, BB84
and SARG04, are implemented.
2015 IDQ., All Rights Reserved
37. • MagiQ QPN™ Security Gateway
• Refreshes keys as often as 100 times per second by incorporating real-time,
continuous, symmetrical quantum key generation based on truly random numbers
39. • 1st generation QKD requires fibre optic cabling dedicated to the task (so called dark
fibre) that can exchange keys at 1Mb/s over 240km
• This is vulnerable to side-channel attacks via injection of additional light into the ‘key
line’
• Side-channel-free QKD encoded with decoy states ( like the T12 Protocol ) and sent
along existing fiber optic networks alongside regular traffic is a little more secure
• A QKD system using entangled photons would have a greater critical advantage: the
key comes into existence simultaneously at both sender and receiver nodes,
eliminating the possibility of interception
41. • Information can be processed and teleported with Continuous Variables and
transmitted on a quantum scale using squeezed coherent light.
• This isn’t the same as processing with single photons or photon pairs as qubits. CV
quantum processing relies on the fact that squeezing is intimately related to quantum
entanglement, and is useful for communications.
Image; octave spanning self referenced frequency comb from Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics
42. • As a photon travels through fibre optic cable it’s state slowly changes, limiting the
distance the quantum information can travel.
• Quantum information can be transmitted from one location to another, with the help
quantum entanglement between the sending and receiving location
• Controllable signals can be sent using quantum teleportation with two entangled
photons, the ‘signal’ and ‘idler’, plus an unentangled 3rd acting as a ‘control’ that
contains the information to be sent.
• Measuring the idler and control signal in relation to one another and then comparing
the data to the signal photon conveys information.
Image from: “Scientists Demonstrate Three-Way Quantum Communication: What's Faster Than The Speed Of Light?“, 2014. Int’l Science
Times
43. 1. Entangled pairs are sent from
a source to quantum memory.
2. One of the two is read and the
data mapped to a 3rd photon
entangled with a 4th photon.
This ‘destroys’ the data
integrity of photons 2 & 3, and
now the entangled state is
shared with photons 1 and 4.
3. Repeating this process can
transport entangled photons
across large distances.
Image; Unknown
44. • The crossbar method ( Control ) allows for a self-routing method to concentrate
quantum packets.
• Output quantum state contains at least one packet pattern in which no two packets
contend for the same output.
• One photon of an entangled pair is sent through one end of the loop, and through a
multiplexer, while a laser sends pulses of light into the spool.
• The photon is shifted in such a way that at the other end of the loop it separates out
along a separate path, while remaining entangled with its partner.
Image from: “Entanglement-Preserving Photonic Switching” IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 26, NO. 4, 2/15/14
45. • Satellite Laser Communication Terminals (LCT), and possibly
Energetic Particle Telescopes can be adapted for quantum based
communications.
• QKD over LCT would be secure, but there are limitations on quantum
communication over long distances via free space.
• Quantum channel attenuation
• Photon-state disruption and vulnerability to noise interference
• Laser-beam widening
• Constrained security-key generation rate.
Image; “The Race To Bring Quantum Teleportation To Your World”, 2012 Wired.com
47. • Distributed computing and storage is increasingly a standard practice
due to it’s stability.
• Quantum data compression and optimization could make systems
like CCN easier to implement in the short term, with the potential of
becoming a more widely used addressing scheme due to the nature
quantum information theory.
• Distributed software platforms will be highly compatible and
increasingly autonomous, stable, and efficient.
• This means:
• Less identity theft and fraud
• More useful innovation
• ???
• Profit!
49. • Videos
• Quantum Computing Day 1 –
GoogleTechTalks
• Quantum Computing Day 2 –
GoogleTechTalks
• How to Compute with Schrödinger's Cat –
Stanford Online
• Quantum Key Distribution and the Future
of Encryption – Black Hat
• Can We Speak... Privately? - Institute for
Quantum Computing
• Introduction to Quantum Information -
Institute for Quantum Computing
• What is Entanglement Anyway? –
scienceandnonduality
• How to Program a Quantum Computer
Links to references,
resources, and cat
memes
50. • Research Papers and Reports
• Quantum Hacking
• Researchers create quantum memory that’s
stable for six hours
• NIST Team Breaks Distance Record for Quantum
Teleportation
• How To Teleport Quantum Information
Infographic
• Gaps between industrial and academic solutions
to implementation loopholes in QKD: testing
random-detector-efficiency countermeasure in a
commercial system
• Best Kept Secrets – Scientific American
• Towards Frequency Combs
• MDI-QKD: Continuous- versus discrete-variables
at metropolitan distances
• Random Routing and Concentration in Quantum
Switching Networks
• A Quantum Communications Switch - MIT
Technology Review
• Quantum Communication; All you wanted to
know but were afraid to ask
Links to references,
resources, and cat
memes
51. • Resources
• Microsoft’s LiqUI|)
• QKD Simulator
• IDQ Random Number Generator
• University of Bristol’s 2-Qubit chip
• meQuanics Hardware Game [Prototype]
• Quantum Moves Game
Links to references,
resources, and cat
memes
52. • A Cat Meme
• As promised
Links to references,
resources, and cat
memes
Notas del editor
How far down does the rabbit hole go? Here’s a hint; black holes. It’s a misleading way to describe this phenomena because it’s not actually a hole, it’s just an object with enough gravity* to cause anything detectable by our current technology to move in a direction and speed that makes it very difficult to accurately observe.
*(or seriousness, based on the contextual meaning of the word)
We all know about Moore’s law. Transistor’s have reached their size limit, and there’re just some solutions for problems that can’t be found on classical transistor-based computers.
What the truth table says.
Polarization can be represented as a 2-dimentional vector of unit length, and then an arbitrary polarization can be expressed as a superposition.
|v) is Dirac’s bra-ket notation for a vector.
Elenor Rieffel of NASA: “Saying what a quantum superposition means is ‘philosophically tricky, mathematically straightforward’.”
There are other methods underdevelopment, including qmodes.
All of these methods, give or take polynomial factor, are equivalent.
For brevity, this presentation will concentrate on superconducting and photonic based models. [HINT: They’re all sorta photonic]
Any combination of these architectures could work in combination with each other and quantum dots are already being adapted for use as a competitor to LCD screens.
Objects have their own eigenstate, a definite position and momentum. Computation using the eigenstates of photons is a sensible work-around caused by the physical limits of semiconducting transistors.
Entangling different types of atoms allows for the protection of memory qubits while other qubits undergo logic operations or are used as photonic interfaces to other processing units.
This is a diagram of an experiment utilizing a mach-zehnder interferometer, a device used in integrated circuits for fiber optic networks that can also function as a quantum ‘mirror’. By definition a quantum mirror (QM) is a combination of standard devices (e.g., usual lenses, usual mirrors, lasers, etc.) with a nonlinear crystal by which one involves the use of a variety of quantum phenomena to exactly transform not only the direction of propagation of a light beam but also their polarization characteristics. This not limited to either only two frequencies, or photon pairs.
Optical Photonic based quantum processing for one-way computing;
Quantum frequency combs can create multiphoton entanglement for large-scale processing with qmodes instead of qubits and even more importantly, full-color pictures of cats.
A Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state is a certain type of entangled quantum state which involves at least three subsystems (particles)
Hadamard matrix is a mathematical operator representing the beam splitter (mirror)
Doing the thing, only faster.
Yes, you too can have a hand in designing the computers of the future. And by playing video games… Yes it’s a thing. Yes this picture is a thing.
Quantum physics isn’t so weird after all.
The gamified simulators do not come with a soundtrack so I made a couple. Working with the “AI assisted” and gamification theme, the tracks HighGravity and WaveFunkish were composed using Punk-o-Matic v2 for the lead instrument and the accompaniment is AI generated using the ujam app.
Technically all computers utilize ‘quantum effects’, they just do it differently.
Due to the laws of quantum physics, once transistors are about 1nm or smaller electrons can leak through the oxide gate and can even 'skip' the channel completely, tunneling directly from the source into the drain and make the transistor behave like a resistor.
D-Wave Systems has produced a processor that works with this property instead of fighting it.
In a nutshell, the D-Wave is sort of like an ASIC that finds the minimum of a Hamiltonian via a superconducting annealing process that exploits the properties of quantum tunneling, and is very good at training NNs for pattern matching and logistics tasks.
It’s an efficient bridge between classical transistor based systems and real QCs, that may even develop the type of AI required to properly design true quantum processors.
Whether it’s a ‘quantum computer’ is almost more a philosophical debate than a scientific one. It’s like trying answer the question “Is a pocket calculator a computer? It only does one thing; math.”
As for why finding the minimum of an NP-Hard expression is so important, let’s say that in contrast to most traditional neural networks, Hamiltonian neural nets are nondissipative.
Quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) is a pattern matching technique, common in machine learning applications.
Quantization of the Hamiltonian of a network serves as a means for work on quantum analogs of classical information processing.
NP and NP hard problems solved via annealing has many useful applications, including communication network routing protocols which can be viewed as similar to the ‘travelling salesman problem’.
Annealing for computation was derived from metallurgic annealing where the cooling of metal reorganizes and strengthens it’s structure.
This very useful in Q Routing for MANET systems where the distance between nodes variates continuously, and the route packets are sent along must be recalculated frequently for QoS.
Neural nets on traditional transistor-based computers are ‘slow’ learners and it takes time for them to derive meaning based connections between things like words and images. IBM’s Watson may be ‘smarter than a 5th grader’ due to memory and lookup speed, but exhibits the logical capacity of a 4yr old when posed problems that require creativity and meaning-based critical thinking skills.
The 1000 qubit D-Wave system purchased by Google is already changing that. The NN is dubbed PlaNet, and uses only 377 MB, which even fits into the memory of a smartphone.
Researchers think one of the best routes to making a practical quantum computer would involve creating grids of hundreds or thousands of qubits working together. The circuits of IBM’s chip are made from metals that become superconducting when cooled to extremely low temperatures. The chip operates at only a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. (notice a pattern?)
Using a square lattice, IBM is able to detect both types of quantum errors for the first time. The new quantum-bit circuit design allows for independent and simultaneous detection of X and Z errors on two-code qubits, shaded purple and labelled Q1 and Q3.
Microsoft has begun funding research into using the majorana fermion, an quasiparticle that behaves simultaneously like matter and antimatter, but in a stable manner that interacts weakly with it environment and makes it resistant to decoherence.
Like Microsoft Alcatel-Lucent is following the topological QC route.
Topological quantum computers employs 2D anyons or fermions (quasiparticle) to cross over each other to form braids in 3D spacetime to form logic gates.
So far there appears to be only a few quantum algorithims. Peter Shor’s (1994), Lov Grover’s (1996), Deutsch-Jozsa, and…
ElGamal, elliptic curve, and RSA encryption.
Factoring a 2058 bit number would take 10 years and require a server farm covering 1/4th of North America, would cost trillions, and consume enough terawatts of power to exhaust the world’s fossil fuel supply in the 1st day.
In 1994 Shor discovered a polynominal-time quantum algorithm for factoring and the discrete log problem that will crack PK encryption.
At least one source has claimed that it would currently require a server farm covering 1/4th the U.S. 10 years to factor RSA2048, and would consume all the fuel on earth in the first day.
10million physical (10K logical) qubits would take about 16 days to crack 2048 bit encryption.
First we can’t keep cats off our keyboards, next thing we know they’re all over the internet. And soon they’ll be breaking all the PK encryption. Thanks Schrödinger.
These algorithms are based on the fact that there is no known mathematical operation for quickly factoring very large numbers given today’s computer processing power.
The truth is all known forms of math-based encryption will become significantly weaker. This is due to Grover’s algorithm, which can exponentially reduce the time required to brute-force a key.
One time pad appears to be the only truly secure method for key generation, but only if the keys are truly random.
Quantum Key Distribution time! These are currently in use all over the planet for high security communications by the type of people who take 6 months to grant clearance to tourists.
IDQ’s Quantis is available for USB & PCI. You can try it for free at randomnumbers.info
This is based on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle; whereas an observer can only measure one property (speed or position) at a time, causing information about the other to be lost. It also disturbs the state of the photon, enabling detection of eavesdropping.
There are several companies internationally who appear to have invested in QKD research at some point in the last 10 years. Startups like Optimax in Maryland evaporated from the public eye, others like QinetiQ turned their focus to Laser & RF Disruptive Technologies, Distributed Acoustic Sensors, and MELACOM radio receivers used by the NASA’s Mars Science Lab.
The three most high profile companies offering QKD systems currently in use are MagiQ Technologies, IDQ, and Toshiba.
Part of this is based on the ‘no-cloning’ theorem
A serious security loophole exists when Alice uses multi-photon states as quantum information carriers (Photon number splitting).
If the pulse contains more than one photon, then Eve can split off the extra photons and transmit the remaining single photon to Bob.
A fully measurement device independent ( MDI ) system appropriate for large-scale deployment requires room- temperature operations and a high resistance to noise and photon-loss.
Research has been focusing more on CV encoding in recent years.
SARG04 isn’t as efficient as BB84 for single-photon implementations.
T12 appears more promising as a cost effective attenuated laser based MDI homodyne encoding standard
Toshiba's QKD system uses the T12 protocol. This is a modification of the standard BB84 protocol with decoy states, in which the probability that bit values are encoded in each basis (X and Z) are different.
This makes bit sifting much more efficient, nearly doubling performance under many conditions.
it allows key distribution over standard telecom fibre links exceeding 100 km in length and bit rates sufficient to generate 1 Megabit per second of key material over a distance of 50 km — sufficiently long for metropolitan coverage.
ID Quantique’s system encodes data in the phase of the photon instead of its polarization state.
Uses SARG04 & BB84 encoding and sifting system
The Cerberis QKD server works in conjunction with Centauris encryptors for high-speed encryption based on the proven Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Point-to-point wire-speed encryption with minimum latency and no packet expansion is made possible by operating at the layer 2 of the OSI model. Standard network protocols up to a bandwidth of 10Gbps are supported. These encryptors have received stringent security accreditation (Common Criteria EAL4+ and FIPS 140-2) for critical infrastructure SF and SA.
Current implementation of QKD systems for various secure communications.
MagiQ’s OPN Security Gateway, which uses a secure fiber-optic link to transmit the changing key sequence up to 120 km as a stream of polarized photons.
The loophole is likely to be present in most QKD systems using avalanche photodiodes to detect single photons and is intrinsic to a whole class of single-photon detectors, regardless of their manufacturer and model.
While blinded, it cannot act as a quantum detector, but it still functions as a classical light detector, reading a "one" if an extra bright pulse of light hits it, quantum properties of the light notwithstanding. So as the interceptor receives the sender's signal, it pumps an extra bright pulse of light at the receivers' detector every time it reads a "one" in the original signal.
Yes, this involves increased decentralization and distributed computing. Deal with it.
Photonic based quantum processors can be powered by a cheap, energy efficient LED laser when paired with a spatial filter and kept ‘in tune’ with mirrors arranged to create a standing wave cavity resonator.
Coherent laser light is just pinhole-light produced by an infinite mirror-tunnel, with amplification. It’s monochromatic, like a pure audio tone.
Squeezed light is used for quantum information processing with Continuous Variables (CV). Continuous variable quantum optics uses squeezing of light as an essential resource to realize CV protocols for quantum communication, teleportation and one-way computing. This isn’t the same as quantum information processing with single photons or photon pairs as qubits. CV quantum processing relies heavily on the fact that squeezing is related to quantum entanglement.
“It’s like two people play dice and they always get the same result; it’s always random but they always get the same result,” said physicist Rupert Ursin of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna
A signal-idler pair (or biphoton) is a highly entangled system in variables such as energy, linear momentum, angular momentum and polarization
QuREP company is devving them.
“Quantum Repeaters are the analogue of classical optical amplifiers that permit the cascading of successive fibre optic communication links. Quantum Repeater technology is centered around quantum light-matter interactions at the quantum level in ensembles of rare earth ions frozen in a crystal that store quantum information by coherent control of the quantum degrees of freedom. A clear and well-defined architecture and protocol for a complete Quantum Repeater can be realized with entangled photon pair sources that couple the Quantum memories to fibre optic communication systems.”
Left schema exhibits quantum routing operation via an optical circuit with quantum CNOT gates, X gates, and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
Similar to modern intregrated circuits used for fibre optic communications, only with error correction.
Right scheme demonstrates operation of a cross-bar, entanglement-preserving switch for use in quantum communications and networking. The switch is a low-loss (3 dB) device that can operate at high rates (>6.5 GHz), and retains the polarization-encoded quantum state of the input photons.
Eventually this could be replaced with fully-instantaneous subspace communications via entanglement, but theoretical conjecture is beyond the scope of this presentation.
For QKD-based long distance satellite network communications, a source of entangled photon pairs are used to grow a secret key between two parties once the photonic sets have reached their destination. In the long term this could lead to a new form of communications system.
It’s already heading that direction.
I’d like to believe that when SkyNet becomes self-aware it’s human interface agent will have a quirky personality and a love of cat memes because it’s ‘from the internet’
