Scientists at Northwestern University say they have harnessed the properties of light to encrypt information into code that can be cracked only one way: by breaking the physical laws of nature. This high-speed quantum cryptography method allowed the scientists to . . .

Scientists at Northwestern University say they have harnessed the properties of light to encrypt information into code that can be cracked only one way: by breaking the physical laws of nature. This high-speed quantum cryptography method allowed the scientists to send encrypted data over a fiber-optic line at 250mbps (megabits per second), which the researchers said was more than 1,000 times faster than what was achievable with existing quantum technology.

The research team, led by Northwestern professors Prem Kumar and Horace Yuen, used standard lasers and existing optical technology to transmit a large bundle of photons, the particles that make up light.

Current techniques in quantum cryptography are based on shooting single photons. But detecting single photons is much harder, scientists noted, and requires equipment that is so sensitive it often registers nonexistent photons. Northwestern's quantum cryptography method required less-sensitive detectors.

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