Integrated Photonics: Future of Quantum Security
Secure data exchange is essential for businesses, governments, and individuals. While classical cryptography has served us well, quantum advancements bring both risks and opportunities. Integrated photonics is key to enabling next-generation quantum-secure systems.
Quantum Security with Integrated Photonics
Prof. Pepijn Pinkse and his team at MESA+ are developing cost-effective, energy-efficient quantum security solutions. Current quantum security systems are costly (>€100K) and power-intensive, limiting widespread adoption. Integrated photonics aims to overcome these barriers.
Key Challenges:
- Quantum Key Distribution (QKD): Enabling secure key exchange with significantly reduced cost and size.
- Physical Unclonable Keys (PUKs): Creating unique, hardware-based security keys that don’t rely on computational assumptions.
- Optical Quantum Computing & Certified Randomness: Leveraging quantum interference for secure, verifiable random number generation.
- LIFI: Using room lighting for high-speed, secure data transmission without wall penetration risks.
Research Highlights
- Authenticated Long-Distance Communication: Developing integrated photonic chips for secure, compact authentication keys.
- Quantum-IP-Based Certified Randomness: Proof-of-principle research into certifiable quantum-generated randomness.
Achieving practical quantum security requires hybrid integration, minimizing interference, and competing with traditional CMOS electronics. Collaboration across electronics, cybersecurity, and photonics is essential to success.