Quantum Communication

In the modern digital age we would like our information transfer to be fast, but also secure. Data security is a topic that spans centuries, but it has never been more relevant than today. At Wits, we have active research in quantum communication, to make data transfer fundamentally secure by using the laws of Nature for the encryption rather than a man-made algorithm that can always be broken. Just as the first classical computer broke the seemingly unbreakable Engima Machine of World War II, so too will the next generation of quantum computers herald in new security needs. While quantum computers introduce the threat to modern-day encryption, making it possible to break codes in real-time, quantum communication brings the solution. Our research covers secure communication in optical fibre and free-space (wireless) using approaches such as quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum secret sharing. Quantum technology involves entanglement of photons in multi-dimensional and high-dimensional spaces, quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping, and quantum links across long distance, the building blocks of a future quantum network.

Contact: Prof. Andrew Forbes
Distinguished Professor
Structured Light Laboratory | School of Physics
Phone: +27 82 8231836