Success of the first Italian quantum communication test, leading towards future connections against cyber attacks. Published on Epj Quantum Technology, it was conducted in the Florence area by the National Optical Institute of the National Research Council (Cnr-Ino) and Lens with the National Research Institute in Metrology (Inrim) of Turin and Technical University of Denmark .
"A strategic step in the transmission of sensitive data: it is the future of communication", said the president of the CNR, Massimo Inguscio.
The test was conducted on a 40-kilometer portion of the Italian fiber-optic backbone created by the INIM, which extends 1,800 kilometers from Turin to Matera and constitutes the initial step of the future Italian quantum communication network (Italian quantum backbone, Iqb ).
Currently the backbone distributes an absolute time-frequency signal, used for example at the Milan stock exchange and which in the future will allow the distribution of quantum keys. Quantum cryptography, the most advanced quantum technology destined to become part of everyday life, is thus approaching further; for example, it could guarantee password and pin confidentiality by encoding information on quantum states of light and allowing a potential intrusion to be revealed thanks to the fundamental laws of quantum physics.
The test "is in line with similar experiments currently conducted abroad," the project coordinator, Alessandro Zavatta of Cnr-Ino and Davide Bacco, of the Dtu Fotonik of the Technical University of Denmark, note. "Our results - they add - represent the first step for the future realization of the Italian Quantum Backbone, a network through which it will be possible to exchange sensitive data and information to hacker proof and resistant even to the attacks of a quantum computer". For Davide Calonico, of the INIM and coordinator of the national fiber optic infrastructure Quantum Backbone, "Italy can aspire to have a fundamental role in the future development of quantum technologies on optical fiber".
Inguscio: Italy protagonist of future communications
The success of the first Italian quantum communication test demonstrates Italy's solidity in this research sector: "it was not accidental: Italy is a leader in the field of quantum communications and it is because it moved in time with a national strategy ", the president of the National Research Council (CNR), Massimo Inguscio told ANSA.
"Research in this area - he continued - is in fact part of one of the pillars of the program on quantum technologies launched by the European Commission and applications may concern many areas. It is a field in which Italy is authoritative".
If quantum communication today is still little known and perceived as a niche and distant technology, the future announces that it is now destined to enter everyday life. "It is a research applied to useful things. The test, for example, demonstrates the possibility of developing technologies within the reach of our small and medium-sized enterprises," Inguscio said. "The experiment was a test of the new quantum cryptography techniques and the Cnr is one of the pillars of this new adventure". After Florence, the test can be repeated in other cities, Inguscio concluded, and one of the next applications is scheduled in Matera in 2020
