Tamper-Indicating Quantum Seal
Brian P. Williams, Keith A. Britt, Travis S. Humble · Physical Review Applied · 2016
Verifying the integrity of a tamper-indicating seal is crucial in surveillance and containment technologies, as an intruder may try to hide a breach. Seals based on the no-cloning principle of quantum mechanics offer an unprecedented level of security. By monitoring the entanglement of transmitted photon pairs, the authors detect intrusion attempts with 99.99% probability, and just a 10${}^{-9}$ chance for a false alarm. In contrast, any conventional optical system would fail this test completely.