As a part of the Quantum Technologies Laboratory, two systems for the distribution of a cryptographic key using principles of the quantum mechanics were launched and tested: Cerberis, which will be used in the future for operation in the telecommunications network, and Clavis, intended for further development of quantum cryptography methods.

The Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technique allows the cryptographic key to be exchanged between a sender and recipient of a confidential message in a manner that is completely resistant to any hacker attacks. The key allows the sender to encrypt confidential information and send it via a traditional telecommunications network. Thanks to the use of quantum effects, it is impossible to intercept the exchanged key without alerting the parties exchanging it, which means that the data encrypted with the key can only be decrypted by the authorized recipient. Thanks to this technology, in the future it will be possible to send financial, medical or military information in an absolutely safe way.

The information carriers used to send the quantum key are photons, thus the key can be exchanged using optical fibers, which are currently the basic telecommunications channel. The first tests of the QKD systems were carried out at the headquarters of the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC). Then, a quantum-encrypted signal was securely transmitted between two PSNC units separated by 7 kilometers using the existing fiber-optic infrastructure of Poznań. The conducted experiments confirmed that the correct operation of the QKD systems can be guaranteed within 70 kilometers from the transmitter. Subsequently, other PSNC network infrastructure devices will also be connected to the created transmission channel, and in the next two years a connection between Warsaw and Poznań will be launched.

The QKD systems were launched by Piotr Rydlichowski with the team from the PSNC and Adam Widomski and Michał Karpiński from the University of Warsaw.