Quantum Communications

Quantum communication makes use of the principles of quantum mechanics in the transfer of information with a lot more security and at a much faster rate. Currently the internet employs binary consisting of 1s and 0s while quantum communication employs qubits that can be 1, 0 or a combination of the two – quantum states. This property of entanglement makes it possible for two qubits to be connected over vast channels and if one is changed the other is affected immediately – this is quantum internet. A future quantum internet would consist of networks of entangled qubits between various nodes, thus ensuring security in the transfer of information across the world. There are quantum cryptography protocols such as the quantum key distribution that can generate secret “keys” identical to the fractions to be used in encryption algorithms. Quantum cryptography works on the principle that any attempt to listen into the conversation would disrupt the quantum state and alert the sender hence the keys shared are an unbeatable communication line. Quantum internet might transfer data of top-prescribed value securely through physics. Possible here too the speed-ups to tasks like financial planning and distributed computing. Some universities and tech giants are already experimenting with prototypes of the quantum connectivity networks - once infrastructure, which is still under the development, becomes refined, a fully-fledged quantum internet may change the way information of global significance is transmitted and shared.