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It is buzz-word central for sure. However, there is a nugget of truth in there: China is currently winning handily in the quantum teleportation race. They have

It is buzz-word central for sure. However, there is a nugget of truth in there: China is currently winning handily in the quantum teleportation race. They have been setting all kinds of records for teleporting photons to satellites. Quantum encryption is different from general purpose quantum computing. It relies on teleporting photons to communicate and it is unhackable—if someone tries to eavesdrop on a quantum encrypted communication, then the people communicating can immediately tell that this has happened. So on this one China really does seem to be ahead and the applications are not so fantastical.

drb91 9y ago
I thought quantum encryption was about secure key distribution for traditional sigint, not anything about a new encryption mechanism or medium for communicating an encrypted payload or an ability to detect interception. Do you have any more information?
- outworlder 9y ago
  You need the quantum state and a conventional communication channel. Your 'key' is basically the quantum state. So you can consider it a new encryption mechanism. Interception detection is for someone messing with the quantum state (in other words, trying to use it). Both parties will know that happened. It is not for the conventional channel.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - drb91 9y ago
    You can’t consider it a new form of encryption if you’re just stuffing a key distributed with entanglement into AES and sending the encrypted result over tcp. The detection only holds for key distribution, which is a different problem than encryption (to my understanding). As i understand it, the main novelty here is that china has demonstrated recent ability to teleport particles a long ways away. This is only related to encryption in the slimmest chain of buzzwords.
equalunique 9y ago
>It relies on teleporting photons to communicate and it is unhackable—if someone tries to eavesdrop on a quantum encrypted communication, then the people communicating can immediately tell that this has happened. As mathematics and physics PhD Vladimir Dergachev explained to me, yes, this is what experts purport about quantum encryption.

drb91 9y ago

I thought quantum encryption was about secure key distribution for traditional sigint, not anything about a new encryption mechanism or medium for communicating an encrypted payload or an ability to detect interception. Do you have any more information?

outworlder 9y ago
You need the quantum state and a conventional communication channel. Your 'key' is basically the quantum state. So you can consider it a new encryption mechanism. Interception detection is for someone messing with the quantum state (in other words, trying to use it). Both parties will know that happened. It is not for the conventional channel.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- drb91 9y ago
  You can’t consider it a new form of encryption if you’re just stuffing a key distributed with entanglement into AES and sending the encrypted result over tcp. The detection only holds for key distribution, which is a different problem than encryption (to my understanding). As i understand it, the main novelty here is that china has demonstrated recent ability to teleport particles a long ways away. This is only related to encryption in the slimmest chain of buzzwords.

equalunique 9y ago

>It relies on teleporting photons to communicate and it is unhackable—if someone tries to eavesdrop on a quantum encrypted communication, then the people communicating can immediately tell that this has happened. As mathematics and physics PhD Vladimir Dergachev explained to me, yes, this is what experts purport about quantum encryption.