IIT Delhi researchers develop system for secure quantum communication

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi) researchers have developed a new distribution system for secure quantum communication. The researchers have developed a trusted-node-free quantum key distribution (QKD) which can be used to relay transmission up to 380 km in standard telecom fibre with a very low quantum bit error rate (QBER).

The IIT Delhi said this length of the transmission system is the highest achieved so far globally for the differential phase shift (DPS) QKD protocol. It has brought the IIT Delhi at the forefront of research and development in quantum communication technologies, it added

“Such low QBER enables the DPS QKD scheme resistant to collective and individual attacks and implementable for various applications, such as securing financial transactions, medical records, and secret codes,” the IIT Delhi said.

Strengthen cybersecurity

The new system is also capable of securing network communication, such as the internet of things (IoT), and strengthens cybersecurity.

Bhaskar Kanseri, lead researcher and associate professor at IIT Delhi’s physics department, said, “This realisation using state-of-the-art technology will 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 would also prove to be a crucial step towards the commercial production of long-distance secure practical QKD devices”, said

In this work, Kanseri was joined by research scholars Nishant Kumar Pathak, Sumit Chaudhary, and Sangeeta.

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Kanseri added that in quantum communication, security is guaranteed by the laws of quantum physics and, in principle, it cannot be broken even using a quantum computer. This QKD demonstration shows methods to get rid of the intermediate trusted nodes, which are weak security loopholes and are vulnerable to several kinds of attacks.

The researchers conducted the study using the baseline error optimisation method at their Experimental Quantum Interferometry and Polarisation (EQUIP) lab. The study titled ‘Phase encoded quantum key distribution up to 380 km in standard telecom grade fibre enabled by baseline error optimisation’ has been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.