Cambridge Research Laboratory News

"Simple method announced to prevent detector blinding attacks on quantum cryptography"

An investigation by Toshiba's Cambridge Research Laboratory, to be published in the December edition of Nature Photonics, demonstrates that the detector blinding attack on QKD is completely ineffective, provided that the single photon detectors are operated correctly.

The new study shows that the attack is only successful if a redundant resistor is included in series with the single photon detector, or if the discrimination levels are set inappropriately. Furthermore, by monitoring the photocurrent generated by the detector it is possible to prevent all bright light attacks on avalanche photodiodes.

Press release: Detector blinding attacks on quantum cryptography defeated

"Advancements in the lab featured in LABhub video blogs"

Toshiba's Cambridge Research Laboratory (CRL) is featured in the Toshiba LABhub Videoblogs. For the LabCASTs a group of local students were invited to come into CRL and meet our researchers to see some of the technology that we are preparing. The first two LabCASTs take a look at how computers can see in 3D and how future computers could be transformed by the massive parallelism resulting from quantum effects.

"Professor Roberto Cipolla FREng elected as Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering"

Prof. Roberto Cipolla FREng, part-time Managing Director of Toshiba Research Europe Ltd.'s Cambridge Research Laboratory (CRL), has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Prof. Cipolla is Professor of Information Engineering at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge where he heads the Machine Intelligence Laboratory. He has been distinguished by the Royal Academy of Engineering for his contributions to computer vision, especially the recovery of 3D shape from images, and its translation into novel commercial applications.

"Cambridge team achieve new record bit rate for quantum key distribution"

The Cambridge Lab of Toshiba Research Europe announced on 19 April 2010 a major breakthrough that will allow ultra-secure encryption of sensitive data sent by banks, hospitals and government organisations.

They have succeeded in demonstrating continuous operation of quantum key distribution (QKD) with a secure bit rate exceeding 1 Megabit/sec over 50 km of fibre for the first time. Averaged over a 24 hour period, this is 100–1000 times higher than anything reported previously for a 50 km link. It was achieved using two innovations developed by the Cambridge team: a novel light detector for high bit rates and a feedback system which maintains a high bit rate at all times and requires no manual set-up or adjustment. The results will be reported in the scientific journal, Applied Physics Letters.

Press release: Quantum Cryptography breakthrough heralds uncrackable communication networks
Further Information: Toshiba Quantum Key Distribution System

"Innovative new microparticle-based platform provides significant advantages over fixed 2D microarray technologies"

Toshiba has developed a novel, label-free biosensor platform, which is expected to significantly shorten the total biomolecular assay process, saving days or even weeks of research time. The platform is capable of combining multiple array experiments in one single instance on a wide variety of biomolecules such as antibodies and other proteins. This unique versatility makes it ideal for rapid process optimization in molecular screening applications.

Press release: Toshiba dramatically advances biosensor technology

"Cambridge Research Laboratory at IFA Internationale Funkausstellung 2008"

Consumers will soon be able to control their TV screens or home entertainment systems simply by waving their hand, thanks to technology developed by Toshiba Research Europe's Cambridge Research Laboratory.

The new gesture-based interface for flat panel displays was on show at the 2008 IFA exhibition in Germany (29 Aug - 3 Sep, Messe Berlin, Berlin) where Toshiba also showed the results of its latest research projects relating to the 3D digital world and intuitive interfaces. These include 3D photocopying, accurate digital modelling of moving objects in 3D and the world's first hands-free in-car Bluetooth kit with both speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis features.

Associated press releases: 3D photocopier, 3D deformable object modelling and speech technology