News
- HISPOS Registration is possible from 28.04. to 16.05.2008. Students not registering in time will not be allowed to take the final exam.
Course Outline
Short lecture notes can be found here.| Date | Topics | Slides | Homework | Solutions | References |
| 2008-04-21 | Short "historical" overview, introduction to quantum mechanics using the example of polarisation | PPT, PDF | none | [NC00] Chapter 1.1 for the historical overview | |
| 2008-04-28 | Mathematics of the single qubit, Elitzur-Vaidman bomb tester | PPT, PDF, Blackboard | [NC00], sections 1.2.1, 1.3.1 for the single qubit. [NC00], section 7.4 for the modelling of the beam splitter. Wikipedia for the bomb tester. | ||
| 2008-05-05 | Multiple qubits, composite systems (tensor product) | Blackboard | [NC00], sections 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.5, 2.2.8. | ||
| 2008-05-19 | Measurements on composite systems, elementary multi-qubit gates, Deutsch's algorithm | Blackboard | [NC00], section 2.2.8 for composite systems, [NC00], section 4.3 on multi-qubit gates, [NC00], section 1.4.3 on Deutsch's algorithm | ||
| 2008-05-26 | Quantum ensembles, density operators | Blackboard | [NC00], sections 2.4.1, 2.4.2. | ||
| 2008-06-02 | Partial trace, purification, quantum operations | Blackboard | [NC00], sections 2.4.3, 2.5, and 8.2, respectively. | ||
| 2008-06-09 | Statistical distance, trace distance, intro to quantum key distribution (QKD) | Blackboard | [NC00], section 9.2.1 for the trace distance, section 12.6 for QKD | ||
| 2008-06-16 | Security definition for QKD, start of security proof of QKD | Blackboard | [NC00], section 12.6. | ||
| 2008-06-30 | Proof of QKD finished | Blackboard | [NC00], section 12.6 | ||
| 2008-07-07 | Impossibility of quantum commitments, commitments in the bounded quantum storage model | Blackboard | [NC00], section 2.5 for Schmidt decomposition. Mayers 1996 for the impossibility result. Damgård et al. 2005 for the result on bounded quantum storage. | ||
| 2008-07-14 | Fourier transformation, order finding. factoring | Blackboard | none | [NC00], sections 5.1-5.3. |
Description and List of Topics
Quantum cryptography is the area of cryptography that uses quantum mechanical effects to construct secure protocols. The paradoxical nature of quantum mechanics allows for constructions that solve problems known to be impossible without quantum mechanics. This lecture gives an introduction into this fascinating area.
Possible topics include:
- Basics of Quantum Computation
- Breaking Crypto with Quantum Computers
- Quantum Key Exchange
- Quantum Commitments (Possibility/Impossibility)
- Quantum Zero-Knowledge
- Free Schrödinger's Cats in the first lecture
Prerequisites
You need no prior knowledge of quantum mechanics. You should have heard some introductory lecture on cryptography; the lecture “Advanced Cryptography” is recommended. You should have a sound understanding of linear algebra.
Reading
[NC00] Nielsen, Chuang. "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" Cambridge University Press, 2000. A standard textbook on quantum information and quantum computing. Also contains some quantum cryptography.
Further reading will be suggested during the course. See the references column in the course outline.