Air force seeks impossible-to-intercept communications.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Defense Technology Newswire

* As hackers become more prevalent on computer networks, information must be able to travel faster and more securely than ever before.

The Air Force has enlisted a group of researchers to create quantum memories based on the interaction between light and matter that would result in a new form of encryption that some experts have called "perfect." Quantum systems provide a level of security far exceeding that of any cryptographic protocol currently known, experts say.

Led by a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers will look at three approaches for producing entangled quantum memories that could allow for long-distance transmission of secure information. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is funding the five-year, $8.5 million project.

"We aim to create large-scale systems that use entanglement for quantum communication and potentially also quantum computing," says principal investigator Alex Kuzmich, a professor in Georgia Tech's school of physics.

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Scientists will look at different ways of designing the matter-light interaction used to produce...