????量子加密術的理念已經不是什么新生事物了，但是它剛剛開始真正應用于實驗室以外的現實世界。ID Quantique的客戶包括不少政府和金融機構，但它無權泄露這些客戶的名字。另外這家公司還在網絡游戲行業找到了一個市場，因為很多網游網站要依賴于ID Quantique的基于量子物理原理的隨機數字生成器，以確保他們的游戲平臺不被其它電腦程序攻破。（基于計算機算法的隨機數字生成器雖然也很先進，但是它們并不是“俄羅斯賭盤”那樣真正的隨機，而是由于其本質決定了它不可避免地會產生某種模式，從而被其它計算機程序探測到。）ID Quantique公司的這些技術來自物理學家們所說的量子物理學的“第二次革命”，這家公司也是第一個把新一代的量子技術商業化的公司。上一次量子物理學的革命發生在幾十年前，以激光等技術的誕生為代表。不過那次革命的主要成績是讓人們能夠操縱多個量子，而不是單個單子。當然，“第二次革命”也絕對不是量子物理學的最后一次革命。

????上周，在莫斯科的俄羅斯量子中心舉辦的第二次國際量子技術年會上，來自全球各地的專家學者發表了關于好幾種量子技術的論文和演講。這些技術在幾年前還僅僅處于理論狀態，但是現在已經得到了飛速的發展，已經被很多人了解，縮短了它們走向實用化和商業化的道路。

????以物理學和材料科學業務為核心的風投基金QWave Capital的執行股東、核物理學家謝爾蓋?庫茲曼在會上接受《財富》雜志（Fortune）采訪時預測，未來三至五年，全世界會開始見證根據量子物理學的最新進展研發出來的專門的傳感器和設備，它們將大大超越現有技術的能力。他還說：“如今，量子物理學面臨的問題已經只是工藝的問題。”他說這是一件好事，意味著在許多情況下，基礎的科學認知和設計已經普遍存在，使很多量子技術已經發展到一個能夠在超級計算、高分辨率傳感器、醫療診段等高科技領域里實現商業應用的階段。

????量子通訊和加密領域的工藝和產品化階段已經悄然展開了——盡管來自現有數據安全技術領域的限制和阻力難免會導致這項技術展開得比較緩慢。吉新表示，目前的大部分數據安全性專家都來自數學界，因此對于量子通訊這樣一項對很多人來說難以直觀掌握的技術，他們通常都抱著謹慎的態度。另外有一些限制也是客觀存在的，目前一顆單獨的光子在保證不丟失或損失的前提下，只能在光纖內傳輸60英里，因此這也是現有的量子加密技術在距離上所能達到的上限。

????現在，ID Quantique公司正在與美國的非盈利研究開發機構巴特雷研究中心（Bettelle）一道，開發所謂的“量子中繼器”，它相當于是量子在傳輸鏈條中的一個驛站。但同時也有一些企業和政府機構需要在較短的距離內實現信息交換的超安全性，也就是信息的“零被盜”。 ID Quantique公司接下來也將繼續這些企業和政府機構合作。另外，這家公司目前還正在與幾家有意采用量子加密技術的政府機構展開磋商。眼下，斯諾登事件鬧得沸沸洋洋，這些政府機構未雨綢繆，肯定不會有人感到驚訝。

????吉新說：“安全專家們并沒有從斯諾登案中汲取任何教訓。很明顯，監控通過互聯網傳遞的信息非常容易。對于斯諾登的泄密，沒有哪個安全性專家能假裝很驚訝。我并不是一個國家級的安全性專家，但我不認為美國是唯一這樣做的國家——俄羅斯在這樣做，中國也在這樣做，大家都在監視別人，從前和以后也都一樣。要想領先其他人，現在有一種方法是使用量子加密技術，因為美國和其他國家情報機關所使用的程序肯定無法追蹤到它。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎?

????The idea of quantum cryptography is not new, but its deployment in real-world, non-laboratory environments is something that is just now getting underway. ID Quantique's client roster includes several governments and financial institutions whose names it is not at liberty to disclose. It also has found a market among online gaming sites who rely on ID Quantique's quantum-based random number generators to ensure their platforms cannot be gamed by other computer programs. (Computer algorithm-based random number generators, though sophisticated, are not considered truly random in the way that a roulette wheel is considered truly random -- by their nature they will produce patterns that other computer programs can detect.) The company is among the first to move forward with the commercialization of next-generation quantum technologies derived from what physicists refer to generally as quantum physics' "second revolution." The first happened decades ago with the advent of lasers and the like, which deal with the manipulation of multiple quanta rather than individual quanta. But it certainly won't be the last.

????At the second annual International Conference on Quantum Technologies hosted by the Russian Quantum Center last week in Moscow, academic researchers from around the globe presented lectures and papers on various quantum technologies that, though simply theoretical just a few years ago, are now moving rapidly toward being very well understood, shortening the road to practical application and commercialization.

????Speaking to Fortune at the conference, Serguei Kouzmine, nuclear physicist and managing partner of physics- and materials science-centered venture capital fund QWave Capital, predicted that in the next three to five years the world will start to see specialized sensors and devices derived from advances in quantum physics that will vastly surpass the abilities of existing technologies. "Quantum physics today is already becoming an engineering problem," Kouzmine said, and that's a good thing. That means the fundamental scientific understanding and design is already there in many cases, freeing many quantum technologies to move on to the phase in which they are actually packaged and prepared for commercial applications in supercomputing, high-resolution sensing, medical diagnostics, and other high-tech fields.

????In quantum communications and encryption, the engineering and production phases are already well under way -- though limitations and resistance from the existing data security establishment will make for a slow rollout of the technology. Most data security experts come from the world of mathematics and numbers, Gisin said, which often leaves them wary of a technology that is admittedly difficult for many people to grasp intuitively. And there are certainly limitations; currently the distance a single photon can be beamed through optical fibers without being lost is roughly 60 miles, placing a ceiling on just how far quantum encryption can be useful.

????ID Quantique is working alongside American non-profit research and development outfit Battelle to develop so-called "quantum repeaters" that would basically act as relay for photon along the chain, but in the meantime it will continue to work with companies and governments who require ultra-secure exchange of information across relatively short distances with virtually zero chance of interception or theft. The company is currently in talks with several governments who are considering implementing its quantum encryption technology, Gisin says. Given the current headlines, that should surprise absolutely no one.

????"Security experts didn't learn anything from this Snowden story, it was already obvious that it is so easy to monitor all the information passing through the Internet," Gisin says. "No security expert can pretend to be surprised by his revelation. And I'm not a national security expert, but I don't think the Americans are the only ones who are doing this -- the Russians are doing it, the Chinese are doing it, everybody is spying on the others and that's always been the case and it always will be. One way to be a step ahead of the others is to use quantum cryptography, because for sure the programs that the Americans and others are using will not be able to crack it."??