Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have achieved an experimental breakthrough in secure quantum communication up to a distance of 380 kilometres using standard telecom fiber with a very low error rate. This long secure length is the highest achieved so far, not only in India but globally, for the Differential Phase Shift (DPS) QKD protocol, claim the institute officials.
The results of the research have been published in the Nature Scientific Reports journal. The research can be helpful in securing financial transactions and secret codes, according to a report by PTI.
"Such low quantum bit error rate (QBER) makes the quantum communication resistant to collective and individual attacks and implementable for various applications, such as securing financial transactions, medical records and secret codes. It is also capable of securing network communication such as the Internet of Things (IoT), and ready to revolutionise the field of cyber security," said Bhaskar Kanseri, lead researcher and associate professor at IIT Delhi's Physics Department and Optics and Photonics Centre.
He added that this realisation using state-of-the-art technology would not only help in reducing the need for trusted nodes for intercity or long-distance quantum key exchange, increasing the security of the cryptography scheme, but also prove to be a crucial step towards the commercial production of long-distance secure practical QKD devices.
In quantum communication, security is guaranteed by the laws of Quantum Physics, and in principle, it cannot be broken even using a quantum computer, Kanseri explained.
"This QKD demonstration shows methods to get rid of the intermediate trusted nodes, which are the weak security loopholes and are vulnerable to several kinds of attacks. It paves ways for more secure long-distance communication useful for strategic areas such as defense and online banking, making digital transactions safer in the near future," he reiterated, as per PTI.
