Title : QUANTUM TECH DEMO BY DRDO AND IIT DELHI

Date : Feb 26, 2022

Description :

GS III

 

Topic à Science and Technology related issues

 

• Context:

 

• A team of experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi recently demonstrated the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link over a 100-kilometer distance.

 

• What is the significance of this:

 

• With this achievement, the country has shown its own secure key transfer mechanism, which can be used to bootstrap military-grade communication security keys.
• Security agencies will be able to plan a proper quantum communication network with an indigenous technology backbone thanks to this technology.

 

• What is Quantum Key Distribution, and how does it work:

 

• Using multiple quantum mechanics components, QKD allows for secure communication.
• The method allows two communicating parties to generate random secret keys that are shared by both parties and known only to them, allowing them to encrypt and decode messages in a highly secure manner.

 

• How does it work:

 

• QKD works by sending millions of polarized light particles (photons) from one entity to another across a fiber optic connection.
• Each photon has a different quantum state, and when all the photons are added together, they form a bit stream of ones and zeros.
• When a photon arrives at its destination, it passes through a beam splitter, which causes the photon to take one of two paths into a photon collector at random.
• The receiver will then provide data to the original sender about the sequence of photons sent, which the sender will compare to the emitter, who would have sent each photon individually.
• Photons that enter the incorrect beam collector are eliminated, leaving just a precise sequence of bits. This bit sequence can then be used to encrypt data with as a key.

 

• Source à The Hindu

Tags : fiber optic, photon, Science and Technology