Diamonds shine for crypto researchers
May 30, 2005
A device that makes it impossible to eavesdrop on communications or steal information travelling on a network is being developed at Melbourne University.
The quantum cryptography technology breaks messages sent using fibre-optic cables down to a single beam of photons, the particles that make up light.
It will appeal to anyone wanting absolute security of information and communications, such as large companies, banks and government agencies,
The university's School of Physics received a $3.3 million innovation grant from the Victorian Government to develop the prototype and commercialise the technology.
While most information today was sent via fibre optics, transmitting it with absolute, uncrackable security depended upon the unique properties of light and laws of physics, co-inventor James Rabeau said.
"We are putting tiny, single-photon light sources, made out of diamond, directly on the end of the optical fibres," Dr Rabeau said.
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