量子加密技术有望击碎“棱镜”

    量子加密术的理念已经不是什么新生事物了，但是它刚刚开始真正应用于实验室以外的现实世界。ID Quantique的客户包括不少政府和金融机构，但它无权泄露这些客户的名字。另外这家公司还在网络游戏行业找到了一个市场，因为很多网游网站要依赖于ID Quantique的基于量子物理原理的随机数字生成器，以确保他们的游戏平台不被其它电脑程序攻破。（基于计算机算法的随机数字生成器虽然也很先进，但是它们并不是“俄罗斯赌盘”那样真正的随机，而是由于其本质决定了它不可避免地会产生某种模式，从而被其它计算机程序探测到。）ID Quantique公司的这些技术来自物理学家们所说的量子物理学的“第二次革命”，这家公司也是第一个把新一代的量子技术商业化的公司。上一次量子物理学的革命发生在几十年前，以激光等技术的诞生为代表。不过那次革命的主要成绩是让人们能够操纵多个量子，而不是单个单子。当然，“第二次革命”也绝对不是量子物理学的最后一次革命。

    上周，在莫斯科的俄罗斯量子中心举办的第二次国际量子技术年会上，来自全球各地的专家学者发表了关于好几种量子技术的论文和演讲。这些技术在几年前还仅仅处于理论状态，但是现在已经得到了飞速的发展，已经被很多人了解，缩短了它们走向实用化和商业化的道路。

    以物理学和材料科学业务为核心的风投基金QWave Capital的执行股东、核物理学家谢尔盖•库兹曼在会上接受《财富》杂志（Fortune）采访时预测，未来三至五年，全世界会开始见证根据量子物理学的最新进展研发出来的专门的传感器和设备，它们将大大超越现有技术的能力。他还说：“如今，量子物理学面临的问题已经只是工艺的问题。”他说这是一件好事，意味着在许多情况下，基础的科学认知和设计已经普遍存在，使很多量子技术已经发展到一个能够在超级计算、高分辨率传感器、医疗诊段等高科技领域里实现商业应用的阶段。

    量子通讯和加密领域的工艺和产品化阶段已经悄然展开了——尽管来自现有数据安全技术领域的限制和阻力难免会导致这项技术展开得比较缓慢。吉新表示，目前的大部分数据安全性专家都来自数学界，因此对于量子通讯这样一项对很多人来说难以直观掌握的技术，他们通常都抱着谨慎的态度。另外有一些限制也是客观存在的，目前一颗单独的光子在保证不丢失或损失的前提下，只能在光纤内传输60英里，因此这也是现有的量子加密技术在距离上所能达到的上限。

    现在，ID Quantique公司正在与美国的非盈利研究开发机构巴特雷研究中心（Bettelle）一道，开发所谓的“量子中继器”，它相当于是量子在传输链条中的一个驿站。但同时也有一些企业和政府机构需要在较短的距离内实现信息交换的超安全性，也就是信息的“零被盗”。 ID Quantique公司接下来也将继续这些企业和政府机构合作。另外，这家公司目前还正在与几家有意采用量子加密技术的政府机构展开磋商。眼下，斯诺登事件闹得沸沸洋洋，这些政府机构未雨绸缪，肯定不会有人感到惊讶。

    吉新说：“安全专家们并没有从斯诺登案中汲取任何教训。很明显，监控通过互联网传递的信息非常容易。对于斯诺登的泄密，没有哪个安全性专家能假装很惊讶。我并不是一个国家级的安全性专家，但我不认为美国是唯一这样做的国家——俄罗斯在这样做，中国也在这样做，大家都在监视别人，从前和以后也都一样。要想领先其他人，现在有一种方法是使用量子加密技术，因为美国和其他国家情报机关所使用的程序肯定无法追踪到它。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎 

    The idea of quantum cryptography is not new, but its deployment in real-world, non-laboratory environments is something that is just now getting underway. ID Quantique's client roster includes several governments and financial institutions whose names it is not at liberty to disclose. It also has found a market among online gaming sites who rely on ID Quantique's quantum-based random number generators to ensure their platforms cannot be gamed by other computer programs. (Computer algorithm-based random number generators, though sophisticated, are not considered truly random in the way that a roulette wheel is considered truly random -- by their nature they will produce patterns that other computer programs can detect.) The company is among the first to move forward with the commercialization of next-generation quantum technologies derived from what physicists refer to generally as quantum physics' "second revolution." The first happened decades ago with the advent of lasers and the like, which deal with the manipulation of multiple quanta rather than individual quanta. But it certainly won't be the last.

    At the second annual International Conference on Quantum Technologies hosted by the Russian Quantum Center last week in Moscow, academic researchers from around the globe presented lectures and papers on various quantum technologies that, though simply theoretical just a few years ago, are now moving rapidly toward being very well understood, shortening the road to practical application and commercialization.

    Speaking to Fortune at the conference, Serguei Kouzmine, nuclear physicist and managing partner of physics- and materials science-centered venture capital fund QWave Capital, predicted that in the next three to five years the world will start to see specialized sensors and devices derived from advances in quantum physics that will vastly surpass the abilities of existing technologies. "Quantum physics today is already becoming an engineering problem," Kouzmine said, and that's a good thing. That means the fundamental scientific understanding and design is already there in many cases, freeing many quantum technologies to move on to the phase in which they are actually packaged and prepared for commercial applications in supercomputing, high-resolution sensing, medical diagnostics, and other high-tech fields.

    In quantum communications and encryption, the engineering and production phases are already well under way -- though limitations and resistance from the existing data security establishment will make for a slow rollout of the technology. Most data security experts come from the world of mathematics and numbers, Gisin said, which often leaves them wary of a technology that is admittedly difficult for many people to grasp intuitively. And there are certainly limitations; currently the distance a single photon can be beamed through optical fibers without being lost is roughly 60 miles, placing a ceiling on just how far quantum encryption can be useful.

    ID Quantique is working alongside American non-profit research and development outfit Battelle to develop so-called "quantum repeaters" that would basically act as relay for photon along the chain, but in the meantime it will continue to work with companies and governments who require ultra-secure exchange of information across relatively short distances with virtually zero chance of interception or theft. The company is currently in talks with several governments who are considering implementing its quantum encryption technology, Gisin says. Given the current headlines, that should surprise absolutely no one.

    "Security experts didn't learn anything from this Snowden story, it was already obvious that it is so easy to monitor all the information passing through the Internet," Gisin says. "No security expert can pretend to be surprised by his revelation. And I'm not a national security expert, but I don't think the Americans are the only ones who are doing this -- the Russians are doing it, the Chinese are doing it, everybody is spying on the others and that's always been the case and it always will be. One way to be a step ahead of the others is to use quantum cryptography, because for sure the programs that the Americans and others are using will not be able to crack it."