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The quirky world of quantum physics, where mathematical elements can hold multiple values and objects can be in several places at once, is heading toward commercial products. A start-up company, MagiQ Technologies, plans to announce today a cryptogaphy - or code - system that uses a technology called quantum key distribution to thwart eavesdropping on a fiber optic communication channel. The company, based in New York, says it has a working model of its system and will have a commercial version available in the second half of next year. With the system, keys to the code are transmitted as a stream of photons, sent over a fiber optic cable. Because of the properties of quantum physics, the mere act of observing the transmission would alter the photons, rendering their information useless to any eavesdroppers. A limit of the system is that it would not work on the Internet, only over dedicated fiber cables in which the photon transmission can be carefully controlled. But outside researchers say that quantum cryptography does make possible electronic conversations that would be immune to eavesdropping. "MagiQ seems to be ahead of the research community in terms of making this affordable and practical," said Dr. Burton S. Kaliski Jr., the chief scientist of RSA Laboratories, one of the leading developers of conventional cryptographic systems.
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