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Credit: Grace ChenPenn Engineering researchers have developed new technology that secures communications between separate devices while limiting the potential for interference.
Led by Electrical and Systems Engineering professor Liang Feng, the Feb. 5 report applies existing quantum technology to a portable micro-laser that can encode information in both light and polarization.
Traditional transmission devices utilize quantum bits — or qubits — to encode information. Feng, along with collaborator Li Ge, launched a new system of encoding information that involves a higher-dimensional alternative called qudits. According to Penn Engineering Today, this technology is expected to increase the security of transmissions.
“We designed a microlaser that can emit four distinct quantum states with perfect spatial and temporal uniformity,” Feng told Penn Today. “This means we don’t have to worry about dephasing effects — which is just light losing synchronicity — or signal loss due to environmental fluctuations.”
Although the microlaser can consistently transmit quantum keys over distances past 500 kilometers — emphasizing the potential of ground-to-satellite communication — there are concerns about the technology falling subject to interference or eavesdropping from outside sources.
Engineering Ph.D. candidate and first author Yichi Zhang emphasized that “by randomly altering the intensities of transmitted pulses,” an eavesdropper “won't be able to tell the difference between a real signal and a decoy,” allowing users to catch them in the act.
Penn’s involvement in conversations within the quantum field comes amid a larger trend of innovation from Penn researchers. In 2018, Penn Physics professors Eugene Mele and Charles Kane won the $3 million 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their work on topological insulators. Their research marked a shift within how quantum engineers viewed insulators, which help organize currents of electrons.
In 2023, Penn announced the launch of its new Center for Quantum Information, Engineering, Science and Technology as a joint initiative between the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Arts and Sciences. The center aims to advance quantum research by facilitating collaboration across several STEM fields.
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