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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

The principles of quantum cryptography

Stephen Mark Barnett, Simon J. D. Phoenix

Published Mar 15, 1996• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two parties can communicate in secret if they already share a sufficient quantity of secret information. The problem then is how to distribute this secret information or key. Quantum cryptography provides the potential to ensure the security of the process of key distribution and hence to guarantee the covert nature of the communication. The security of quantum key distribution relies on the principles of quantum theory and its successful implementation requires the development of quantum optical techniques.

DOI
10.1098/rsta.1996.0032

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Two parties can communicate in secret if they already share a sufficient quantity of secret information. The problem then is how to distribute this secret information or key. Quantum cryptography provides the potential to ensure the security of the process of key distribution and hence to guarantee the covert nature of the communication. The security of quantum key distribution relies on the principles of quantum theory and its successful implementation requires the development of quantum optical techniques.
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Quantum cryptography is the art and science of exploiting quantum mechanical propertie s to perform cryptographic tasks. It is a technology that ensures ultimate security. Compared to current cryptography that could be defeated by the development of an ultra high-speed computer, quantum cryptography ensures secure communication because it is based on the fundamental physical laws. It is an emerging technology in which two parties may simultaneously generate shared, secret cryptographic key material using the transmission of quantum states of light. Quantum cryptography is a new method for sec ret communications offering the ultimate security assurance of the inviolability of a Law of Nature. The quantum cryptography relies on two important elements of quantum mechanics -the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle and the principle of photon polarization.
Quantum Cryptography is based on the use of subatomic particles (photons) and their intrinsic quantum properties (photon polarization) to develop an unbreakable system. It is not possible to measure the quantum state of any system without affecting the system. This property provides secure transmission of key between sender and receiver. Quantum Cryptography is a way to combine the relative ease and convenience of key exchange in public key cryptography with the ultimate security of a one-time pad. Quantum techniques for key distribution, the classically impossible task of distributing secret information over an insecure channel whose transmissions are subject to inspection by an eavesdropper, between parties who share no secret key initially. Quantum Cryptography uses the principles of Quantum Mechanics to implement a cryptographic system. The key problem which is solved by using quantum techniques is that of eavesdropping detection. The bits are represented as qubits, physically modeled by photons, and communicated over a quantum channel. The polarization states of photons represent 0's and 1's. Keyword: Asymmetric key, Cryptography, Protocols, Quantum, symmetric key
The application of internet has spiked up in the present-day scenario, as the exchange of information made between two parties happens in public environment. Hence privacy of information plays an important role in our day to day life. There have been incredible developments made in the field of cryptography resulting in modern cryptography at its zenith. Quantum computers are one among them creating fear into security agencies across the world. Solving the complex mathematical calculations is uncomplicated using quantum computers which results in breaking the keys of modern cryptography, which cannot be broken using classical computers. The concept of quantum physics, into the cryptographic world has resulted in the advancement of quantum cryptography. This technique utilizes the idea of key generation by photons, and communicates between peer entities by secured channel. Quantum cryptography adapts quantum mechanical principles like Heisenberg Uncertainty principle and photon polarization principle to provide secure communication between two parties. This article focuses on generation of a secret shared key, later converted into Quantum bits (Qbits) and transmitted to the receiver securely.
The practical implementation of quantum information technologies requires, for the most part, highly advanced and currently experimental procedures. One exception is quantum cryptography, or quantum key distribution, which has been successfully demonstrated in many laboratories and has reached an advanced level of development. It will probably become the first commercial application of quantum information. In quantum key distribution, Alice and Bob exploit a quantum channel to create a secret shared key comprising a random string of binary digits. This key can then be used to protect a subsequent communication between them. The principal idea is that the secrecy of the key distribution is ensured by the laws of quantum physics. Proving security for practical communication systems is a challenging problem and requires techniques that are beyond the scope of this book. At a fundamental level, however, the ideas are simple and may readily be understood with the knowledge we have already acquired. Quantum cryptography is the latest idea in the long history of secure (and not so secure) communications and, if it is to develop, it will have to compete with existing technologies. For this reason we begin with a brief survey of the history and current state of the art in secure communications before turning to the possibilities offered by quantum communications. The history of cryptography is a long and fascinating one. As a consequence of the success or, more spectacularly, the failure of ciphers, wars have been fought, battles decided, kingdoms won, and heads lost. In the information age, ciphers and cryptosystems have become part of everyday life; we use them to protect our computers, to shop over the Internet, and to access our money via an ATM (automated teller machine). One of the oldest and simplest of all ciphers is the transposition or Caesarean cipher (attributed to Julius Caesar), in which the letters are shifted by a known (and secret) number of places in the alphabet. If the shift is 1, for example, then A is enciphered as B, B→C, · · ·, Y→Z, Z→A. A shift of five places leads us to make the replacements A→F, B→G, · · ·, Y→D, Z→E.