Quantum leap for cryptography

A cryptography system has been developed that uses quantum physics to thwart eavesdropping.

According to the New York Times, a working model of the system has been developed by MagiQ Technologies and will be on the shelves in the second half of next year.

The system allows a code's keys to be transmitted as a stream of photons over fibre optic cable.

Because of the laws of quantum physics, the act of observing the transmission will alter the photons, rendering the information they contain useless to any eavesdroppers.

At present the method will only work over dedicated cables in which the photon transmission can be carefully controlled.

But the researchers claim that quantum cryptography makes it possible to conduct electronic conversations which are impossible to intercept.

MagiQ Technologies also plans to explore other commercial applications using quantum physics, such as quantum computing.

Some scientists have predicted that computers based on quantum principles are possible, and will be able to perform specialised tasks far more quickly than current machines.