The unveiling ceremony of the first laboratory for quantum entanglement was held on Wednesday in the Karaj-based INCL with head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Aliakbar Salehi, Minister of Science Manour Gholami and Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari in attendance.
During the meeting, Salehi referred to secure communication based on quantum cryptography, and said that Islamic Republic of Iran will be the first Islamic country that has developed the technology.
Reviewing the world’s latest developments in the field of nuclear science is among the responsibilities of AEOI and one of the technologies that the world has recently focused on is that of quantum, said Salehi.
Two years ago, necessary orders for moving towards quantum technology was issued and now, Iran is not far behind advanced countries in this field, he highlighted.
Quantum technology occurs at the atomic and subatomic levels and it is incompatible with how humans perceive natural issues today, he said, adding, “for example, naturally, if a rock fells in the well, we expect that it won’t come out, but in the quantum field, we expect the stone to come out.”
The key to entering this technology is to separate atomic particles such as electrons and photons, he said, adding that regardless of the distance between them, whatever happens on one particle will affect the other particle simultaneously.
“We have separated the entangled photons in the lab and hopefully by the end of the year we can exchange photons at 7 km distance,” Salehi added.
The benefit of this technology for transferring data is that it does not require a cryptographic device, and no one can access the data, he noted.
Salehi went on to say that Chinese scientists launched the first quantum communications satellite to the space and manage to exchange photons from over 600 miles distance.
The technology also has applications in other domains such as computers, sensors, and simulations, he further added.
Scientists of this center managed to establish the first laboratory for quantum entanglement and separate photons, head of AEOI said, adding that Islamic Republic of Iran is the first Islamic country and probably the first developing country which has achieved this technology.
Quantum technology occurs at the atomic and subatomic levels and it is incompatible with how humans perceive natural issues today, he said, adding, “for example, naturally, if a rock fells in the well, we expect that it won’t come out, but in the quantum field, we expect the stone to come out.”
Quantum communication network, known also as a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) network, is more secure than widely used electronic communication equivalents. Unlike a conventional telephone or internet cable, which can be tapped without the sender or recipient being aware, a QKD network alerts both users to any tampering with the system as soon as it occurs.
This is because tampering immediately alters the information being relayed, with the disturbance being instantly recognizable. Once fully implemented, it will make it almost impossible for other governments to listen to communications.
This is while Iran has made considerable advances in science and technology through education and training , despite international sanctions in almost all aspects of research during the past 40 years.
In recent years, the growth in Iran's scientific output is reported to be the fastest in the world. Iran has made great strides in different sectors, including aerospace,nuclear science,nuclear science,medical development as well as stem cell and cloning research.
