Quantum encryption sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel (think Digital Fortress) - it is an encryption method that is supposedly impossible to crack due to quantum states. According to an article on BBC News, a network connecting six computers in Vienna using fibre optics between different Sieman's sites are using the application of a quantum cryptography theory first put forward by Charles Bennett (IBM) and Gilles Brassard (Montreal University) in 1983.
All quantum security schemes are based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, on the fact that you cannot measure quantum information without disturbing it
From the detected photons, a totally secret numerical key can be distilled, which encodes the users' data much like the keys used in normal computer networks do. The advantage is that no-one else can know the key without revealing themselves.
It sounds pretty good to me, and it would be interesting to see how well this works on a much larger scale. The obvious application would be for the government and it's organisations, but just as the Internet was, it would likely be picked up quickly by Universities for security between campuses.
