Quantum network can transmit secure video in real-time
It's not quite a quantum internet — yet. But researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have developed a new, ultra-secure computer network that is capable of transmitting data that has been encrypted by quantum physics, including video files.
The network, which currently consists of a main server and three client machines, has been running continuously in Los Alamos for the past two and a half years, the researchers reported in a paper released earlier this month. During that time, they have also successfully tested sending critical information used by power companies on the status of the electrical grid. Eventually they hope to use it to test offline quantum communication capabilities on smartphones and tablets.
"There's a need for secure communications to prevent a hacking attack on the electrical grid," said Richard Hughes, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory who is involved in the experiment. "At the same time, there are very demanding requirements for low latency. You can't have the normal time delays introduced by traditional cryptography." But Los Alamos researchers were able to satisfy but the grid's low latency requirement — that is, the need for ultrafast, near real-time communications, as well as improve security, by developing a new type of quantum network.
