I've actually seen these devices in operation. The thing that impressed me most was that the path need not be a single fiber from end to end - you can maintain quantum state across a switchable fiber junction. This means you are no longer limited to a single pair of boxes talking to each other.
True, the SciAm article doesn't address a lot of issues, but the fact remains that this technology is interesting and important. Peter Trei > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Eugen Leitl > Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 6:17 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Scientific American on Quantum Encryption > > > > Scientific American has little clue, as usual (see their > nanotechnology > retraction). > > Link: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/20/0358215 > Posted by: samzenpus, on 2005-01-20 06:35:00 > > from the just-try-and-break-it dept. > [1]prostoalex writes "Scientific American claims that > [2]advances in > commercially available quantum encryption might obsolete > the existing > factorization-based solutions: "The National Security > Agency or one of > the Federal Reserve banks can now buy a > quantum-cryptographic system > from two small companies - and more products are on the > way. This new > method of encryption represents the first major commercial > implementation for what has become known as quantum information > science, which blends quantum mechanics and information theory. The > ultimate technology to emerge from the field may be a > quantum computer > so powerful that the only way to protect against its prodigious > code-breaking capability may be to deploy quantum-cryptographic > techniques."" > >
