Photons could be the future for secure computing

It appears nothing is safe from computer hackers. Governments tremble at the thought of their secrets finding their way into the wrong hands, and standard computer users worry about their bank details and credit card numbers.

Christine Silberhorn, a professor of quantum optics at the University of Paderborn in Germany, believes she might have the answer in the special properties that light exhibits.

Thick curtains on all the walls ensure total darkness in her laboratory. Large numbers of lenses, prisms and mirror cover a huge experimental table. Green laser light is passed through them in the course of her experiments. Light is a useful data carrier in computer technology. Information can be sent using light through internet connections all over the world, using fibre optic cables, for example.