Quantum Telecloning Demonstrated?

An anonymous reader writes "According to Physorg eavesdropping on a quantum encrypted link can now be done without detection. From the article: 'The scientists have succeeded in making the first remote copies of beams of laser light, by combining quantum cloning with quantum teleportation into a single experimental step. Telecloning is more efficient than any combination of teleportation and local cloning because it relies on a new form of quantum entanglement - multipartite entanglement.' There is also a PDF of a related paper available here for background material."

What?

[compuguy84]

I was just gonna say that...

Seriously though, no matter how much I learn/study/pay tuition, there're always posts that make me realize how little I know about anything.

It's both humbling and inspiring.

Off topic, but someone had to say it... :)

Quantum Transmission

[gadzook33]

It's always bugged me that they call it quantum encryption since it's really classical encryption used in a quantum transmission role. I don't see anything "quantum" about the encryption itself. Of course, it probably sounds cooler that way...

Re:It is not "encryption", it is "modulation"!

[MyNymWasTaken]

Thank you for forcing me to go back and re-read the article. I misread it, as did the submitter, and was extremely confused.

The eavesdropper is still detected. The blurb is wrong.

eavesdropping on a quantum encrypted link can now be done without [detection (wrong)] being located

Re:It is not "encryption", it is "modulation"!

[sconeu]

Firstly, it IS encryption, there is data being hidden in a non-obvious format,

Wouldn't that be steganography, rather than encryption?

huh?

[sentientbrendan]

hmm... what I'd like to see on the web is an introduction to quantum physics for non physicists. something that outlines the primary results of quantum physics with some graphical explanation for laymen.

most people with an interest in physics, whether they be physics majors who have taken modern physics classes or not, have some intuitive ideas about what relativistic physics means. however, when it comes to quantum physics, people just think "black magic happens here"...

what's worse is that people increasing will say "quantum physics" and do a bunch of handwaving to promote psuedoscience. people don't do this with relativistic physics because most people at least understands the *domain* of relativity and know that it isn't likely to lead to inventions that say, clean your clothes better, or something along those lines. quantum physics on the other hand is sometimes quoted when selling just such products (I've seen little plastic balls that are supposed to go in washing machine along these lines) because most people just don't know what the results of quantum physics are, just that they are supposed to be powerful and profound, so charlatans play on that uncertainty.

and... anyway I think we all agree that the *public* understanding of scientific issues, on a least a basic level, is really important to the health of our society. I'm sure we can all name a couple of other issues where poor understanding of science in the public sphere and in government has led to poor decisions and general idiocy. popularization of science and science understanding seems like a goal we should be devoting more resources to.