Princeton plans cryptography detector launch
Chip manufacturer Princeton Lightwave (PLI) has licensed single-photon detector (SPD) technology developed by IBM for use in highly-secure optical communications.
The Cranbury, NJ, company is planning to combine the SPD with its own InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode that was launched last month (see related story).
By combining the two technologies, PLI believes that it can become the first commercial supplier of single-photon detectors for so-called quantum cryptography systems.
Bruce Nyman, PLI's VP of System Solutions, told compoundsemiconductor.net that the company already had some interested customers, and that it planned to ship products based on the combined technology early next year.
PLI will develop a fiber-pigtailed version of its own APD, and integrate it with IBM's circuit-board-based SPD. According to Nyman, the IBM SPD features a transient-canceling circuit technology that provides exceptionally high-speed, low-noise detection of single photons at 1.5 micron "“ a key requisite for quantum cryptography.
While quantum cryptography has long been considered as a viable method for providing "uncrackable" communications, the application is in its infancy as far as commercial deployments are concerned.
Invented in 1984, quantum cryptography takes advantage of the quantum physics of light. In theory, it allows two users to communicate securely over a normally-insecure channel such as a regular optical fiber.
Nyman believes that the method, which is expected to be used by government and financial institutions initially, will eventually find widespread use.
"This [single-photon] detector is a key piece of the enabling technology," said Nyman. "Until now, there has not been a commercial diode available."
