Secure communications with Quantum Physics

08 July 2019

A random number generator for the Internet of Things has been developed within the joint Q@TN laboratory. The compact and inexpensive device will be presented to the public on Wednesday, July 10 at 10.00 a.m. at Polo Ferrari 1 (Povo - Via Sommarive, 5)

(UniTN/FBK press release)

Trento, 8 July 2019 – A very advanced, small and inexpensive, random number generator that ensures communications security. The innovative device was created by the researchers at Q@TN, the laboratory jointly started two years ago by the University of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and the National Research Council (CNR) with the support of the Autonomous Province of Trento and of the Caritro Foundation.
An example of the application of quantum physics and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to the Internet of things. It will be possible to attend a demonstration of the generator in the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 10 at 10.00 am fat Q@TN at Polo Ferrari 1 (Povo – Via Sommarive, 5), classroom A207, to present to the public the transdisciplinary doctoral program in Quantum Science and Technology. The device will be illustrated by a doctoral student, Nicolò Leone. The meeting, which will open with talks by Lorenzo Pavesi, Iacopo Carusotto, Gianluigi Casse and Francesco Pederiva (members of the Q@TN Laboratory and of the transdisciplinary PhD program), will also see the participation of Alexander Szameit (Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, Germany) who will hold a talk on topological photonics.
Lorenzo Pavesi, professor at the University of Trento, explains: «The generator is based on SiQURO patents and was developed thanks to the collaboration between UniTrento and FBK and the University of Geneva within the QRANGE project funded by the European commission. The device is a quantum generator of random numbers that certifies itself in real time. The operating principle derives directly from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, according to which two characteristic properties of a single particle cannot be known simultaneously with absolute precision (eg speed and position). An important feature of the device is that it is based on a compact chip and is therefore inexpensive and small and therefore suitable for making communications within the Internet of Things quantum-secure ».
Iacopo Carusotto, researcher of the National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council (CNR-INO) BEC Center as well as chairman of the panel of the transdisciplinary program, reminded the audience that «The transdisciplinary doctoral program in Quantum Sciences and Technologies involves PhD programs in Physics, Mathematics, Materials,

Mechatronics and Systems Engineering (MMSE), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering. The first group of 7 PhD students has just finished the courses started last November and is now fully active on research projects with the first scientific results.  The second group (with 10 scholarships) will be starting the courses this coming November».
At this time, Q@TN is engaged in five areas, in line with the provisions of the European flagship that will be providing a total of one billion in ten years: the development of new knowledge through the advanced study of quantum sciences, the use of the quantum paradigm to enable new secure communication protocols, the overcoming of current limits in automatic computation through the use of quibit instead of the classic bits in new quantum computer architectures, the modeling of complex phenomena through quantum simulators that allow to reproduce their evolution in controlled systems and finally the use of single particles for high resolution and sensitivity sensors and measurements.

Further information at this page.