Almost twenty years have passed since the University of Concepción started backing the development of quantum optics, an area that studies the interaction between light and matter. Today, the University is behind the first technology in Latin America capable of using quantum properties for cybersecurity.
By: Soledad Toledo Cabrera, Journalist – Vice-Rectorate of Research and Development lucabrer@udec.cl
Images: VRID UdeC Archive
At the beginning of the 20th century, Max Planck coined the term “quantum” to explain the energy exchange between light and matter. With this idea, the study of quantum optics began, a branch of physics that vows to provide some surprising applications.
Within a few years, this concept revolutionized physics. Quantum allowed Einstein to explain the photoelectric effect in 1905 and settle the controversy about the dual nature of light, which presents behaviors typical of waves and particles. The initial theoretical works then moved on to its application, and 50 years later, led the way for the development of the laser, a technology today found in hundreds of everyday devices.
In Chile, research in this area advanced timidly until around 2000, when a critical mass of physicists was reached, educated mainly at the University of Chile and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, who decided to take a step further and back the development of experimental quantum optics in our country.
In 2004, the University of Concepción was awarded funds from the Millenium Scientific Initiative to create the Center for Quantum Optics and Information (COIC) under the direction of Dr. Carlos Saavedra Rubilar, the University’s rector today. This is how experiments in quantum information using twin photons (light particles) began at UdeC, with the collaboration of international universities such as the Federal University of Minas Gerais.
At the same time, the formation of entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer support units within UdeC emerged with the creation of IncubaUdeC in 2002, the Intellectual Property Unit (UPI UdeC) in 2003, and the Transfer and Licensing Office (OTL UdeC) in 2015, all under the Development and Innovation Directorate. These units encouraged the search for uses from different areas.
“It is always important that the academic is trained to enter the market with an idea,” says Dr. Gustavo Lima, founding partner of the UdeC spinoff, SeQure Quantum SpA. “Universities with technology transfer personnel are crucial, as education is slow and at times technology must arrive quickly”, he says.
Technology to certify security
Through this research, a group led by Dr. Gustavo Lima developed a technology capable of generating random numbers, which can be used as cryptographic keys. This initiative was created in 2016 with a Regular Fondecyt project, conducted jointly by researchers from UdeC and the University of Gdansk, Poland. In 2020, protection via patenting of the new device was applied for, and SeQure was formed, signing the license to commercialize the technology. “In our case, all the support we received and the joint development of the first commercial version was fundamental. This way, we reached the market with a product developed and tailored to the customers,” explained Dr. Lima.
One of the properties of light is used, namely interference with a single photon. Given its dual nature, the photon can choose two paths to face a detector. Both have the same probability of receiving the only photon sent: “When one detector receives the photon, we call it 0, and if the other detector receives it, we call it 1. Then we watch the detections and make recordings, and that creates an unpredictable sequence,” explains Dr. Rodrigo Fuentes Inzunza, part of the development team. That string of bits can be used in different ways: creating sweepstakes, encrypting messages, etc.
Dr. Fuentes mentions that the strength of this system is its randomness, originating from the properties of light. “When you can find patterns, it means that the source is not random. Today’s companies generate encryption keys not using real random numbers but pseudo-random ones generated through an algorithm, a program. They all use a parameter that starts the sequence; if you know the parameter, you will have the complete sequence.” That is the weakness of many security systems. Although today’s computers cannot break these systems, quantum computers are expected to be capable of doing so in a few years.
Other sources for these binary chains include noise and temperature changes. Still, as Dr. Fuentes explains, “Photonics can be managed at very high speeds, with full control of the records, and followed up in real-time to make a certification.” With all these elements, SeQure is now collaborating with domestic and international companies, such as the Lotería de Concepción and the French company Thales, to strengthen cybersecurity systems further.
Pioneers in Latin America
Different entities have praised this technology. SeQure was named Startup of the Year 2023 by the newspaper El Mercurio and the Swiss Embassy, which highlight the most disruptive and potential projects of incubators and accelerators in Chile. The UdeC spinoff also received the 2024 Avonni Award in the “Entel Digital Solutions and Services” category, and in January 2025, it received the UdeC Impact award at the Science with Impact Awards ceremony organized by UdeC’s Transfer and Licensing Office (OTL UdeC).
On that occasion, Dr. Paulina Assmann Segura, CEO of SeQure Quantum, highlighted that this shows how public policies supporting science pay off. “This company is the result of a university commitment to technology transfer. Our company is growing. It is the first quantum technologies company in Latin America and represents not only Biobío, Chile, but also Latin America in the context of a global technological revolution. This leads us to reflect: Chile can do it. We can develop our country through science and technology.”
Last modified: 31 de enero de 2025
