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05 May 2005
Physicists at the University of Melbourne have invented a new cryptography system in which diamonds are fused to fibre optic cables using a device similar to a microwave oven.
The technique allows information to be encoded by writing data onto a single photon, rather than onto a beam. If any part of the message is intercepted the whole string of data becomes unreadable.
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"When it comes to cryptology, it's not so much of a problem to have a coded message intercepted, the problem is getting the key [to decode it]," said research fellow James Rabeau who developed the device. "The single-photon beam makes for an 'unstealable' key."
Diamond is the only substance that can produce single-photon beams, and the team attached a 1/1000th of a millimetre wide diamond onto the end of the cable by 'cooking' it in place.
The full research can be found in the current issue of Applied Physics Letters.
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