| Impacted by | Computer development and encryption-breaking in the 1980s |
| Current state | Digital arms race for secure, powerful, and accessible quantum computing technologies |
| Discovered by | |
| Discovered in | 1949 |
| Key principle | Polarization of light |
| First application | Encryption (1960s) |
| Recent development | |
| Subsequent application | Simulation (1970s) |
