Secure card payments using quantum optics most popular article in the journal Optica
A Dutch publication about quantum security proved to be the best-read article of the year in the new scientific journal Optica. Researchers from the University of Twente, Eindhoven University of Technology and the FOM Foundation have developed new technology to better protect banks and business from criminal hackers.
In December 2014, the scientists published their research into a new, secure authentication method based on quantum optics. This method should make bankcards, cash dispensing machines and proofs of identity more secure. The article, which featured on the cover of the journal, drew a lot of attention; Optica announced last week that with more than 9000 downloads it was the most popular article from the journal's first year. The article also attracted a lot of media attention from Russian and Chinese news sites to the American CNBC and ABC Online.
The considerable interest for the Dutch research is probably due to the huge importance of secure methods for authentication. The title of the publication is Quantum-secure authentication of a physical unclonable key. The article describes a method for protecting bankcards in such a way, using a quantum authentication, that they cannot be hacked. The method can also be implemented using existing technology.
Optica is the new high-impact journal of the Optical Society and it is one of the most important journals in the field of optics and photonics. It is a modern open access journal, which means that the articles are freely accessible.
In everyday practice
The researchers involved are currently working in a Technology Foundation STW project on a portable prototype of Quantum-Secure Authentication to demonstrate that it is a practical, robust and user-friendly method for authenticating objects.
The research was carried out by Bas Goorden, Marcel Horstmann, and FOM workgroup leaders Allard Mosk and Pepijn Pinkse. They all work the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology in the Complex Photonic Systems Department of the University of Twente. They worked together with Boris Škorić from Eindhoven University of Technology. The research was funded by the FOM Foundation, Technology Foundation STW, the European Union and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Reference
'Quantum-Secure Authentication of a Physical Unclonable Key', Sebastianus A. Goorden, Marcel Horstmann, Allard P. Mosk, Boris Škorić, and Pepijn W. H. Pinkse, Optica, Vol. 1, Issue 6, pp. 421-424 (2014), dx.doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.1.000421
More information
The press release from Optica about the most downloaded publication
FOM press release on 16 December 2014 about the research:
PhD defence Bas Goorden (University of Twente, former FOM PhD researcher)