Researchers at Honda Research Institute USA, Inc., in collaboration with top universities across the US, have made groundbreaking achievements in quantum materials and secure communication. By creating ultra-thin “nanoribbon” materials, just one atom thick and tens of atoms wide, they have successfully developed a novel method for growing these materials, enabling unbreakable secure communication of sensitive information. This innovative technology leverages these nanoribbons’ unique mechanical and electronic properties to realize secure communication known as ‘quantum communication’.
The development of novel nanoribbon materials with precise width control has enabled the creation of ultra-thin, single-atom-thick structures that can be used to enhance communication security. This breakthrough, achieved by scientists at Honda Research Institute USA (HRI-US) and their collaborators, has significant implications for quantum communications.
Quantum materials are a class of materials that exhibit unique electronic properties due to their atomic structure. In this case, the researchers have developed nanoribbons with precise width control, which is essential for their application in advanced quantum optoelectronics. The nanoribbons were grown using transition metal-alloyed nanoparticles as a catalyst, allowing for the control of the width during the growth process.
The resulting 1-dimensional NR material was transferred over the sharp tip of a cone-shape probe by a transfer process developed by Dr. Shuang Wu, Senior Scientist at HRI-US. Under laser beam excitation, the strain-engineered electronic structure on the tip of the probe caused the emission of a stream of single photons.
Quantum Communication and Secure Key Distribution
The researchers have demonstrated that these nanoribbons can be used to encode information onto individual photons, similar to binary code. The stream of photons can then be used to create and distribute the information between a communicating transmitter and receiver. In this scheme, the transmitter sends a series of single photons in one of two possible quantum states, and the receiver then performs a measurement that differentiates between these states.
After comparing the transmitted and measured quantum states of the photons, the sender and the receiver can establish a secure key that can be used for encryption of their communication. Any attempt to eavesdrop on the communication will inevitably interfere with the quantum states, introducing errors that can be immediately detected by the sender and the receiver.
Challenges and Future Directions
Regulating the stream of single photons is essential to this process. Currently, laser-based photon sources produce photons that are too dense for this scheme to work without interfering with encoded information, creating the need for a single photon emitter source that provides the stream of single photons used to encode the information.
The researchers have made significant progress in improving the purity of the nanoribbons, achieving up to 90% purity of single photons in the stream. Further research is needed to improve the photon purity even higher, making the material highly promising for future applications in quantum communication and quantum optoelectronic devices.
The research was completed with contributions from multiple researchers and organizations, including Professor Nicholas Borys of Montana State University, Professor James Schuck of Columbia University, Professor Ju Li of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Qing-Jie Li of Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Yang Yang of North Carolina State University, and others.
Previous research conducted by HRI on width-controllable growth of double atomic layer of nanoribbons appeared in Science Advances. The collaboration with multiple institutions has validated the feasibility of the new materials as a single photon emitter source for quantum communication.
The breakthrough in nanoribbon technology has significant implications for the field of quantum communications. The development of ultra-thin, single-atom-thick structures that can be used to enhance communication security is a major step forward in this area. Further research is needed to improve the purity of the nanoribbons and to explore their potential applications in quantum communication and quantum optoelectronic devices.
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