...Generated at Record Speed over Fiber Gaithersburg, Md.-Raw
code for "unbreakable" encryption, based on the principles of
quantum physics, has been generated at record speed over optical
fiber at the Commerce Department's National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST). The work, reported today at the
SPIE Defense & Security Symposium in Orlando, Fla.,* is a step
toward using conventional high-speed networks such as broadband
Internet and local-area networks to transmit ultra-secure video
for applications such as surveillance. The NIST quantum key
distribution (QKD) system uses single photons, the smallest
particles of light, in different orientations to produce a
continuous binary code, or "key," for encrypting information.
The rules of quantum mechanics ensure that anyone intercepting
the key is detected, thus providing highly secure key exchange.
The laboratory system produced this "raw" key at a rate of more
than 4 million bits per second (4 million bps) over 1 kilometer
(km) of optical fiber, twi