Course Syllabus
Quantum Cryptography
Index
1. Introduction
1.1. Learning objectives
1.2. Course activities and resources
1.3. What we expect from you
1.4. What you can expect from us/the course team
2. Course structure & Release dates
3. Assessment & Deadlines
4. Resources & Tools
5. Certificate
1. Introduction
How can you tell a secret when everyone is able to listen in? In this course, you will learn how to use quantum effects, such as quantum entanglement and uncertainty, to implement cryptographic tasks with levels of security that are impossible to achieve classically. This interdisciplinary course is an introduction to the exciting field of quantum cryptography, developed in collaboration between QuTech at
Prerequisites: this course assumes a solid knowledge of linear algebra and probability at the level of an advanced undergraduate. Basic knowledge of elementary quantum information (qubits and simple measurements) is also assumed, but if you are completely new to quantum information additional videos are provided for you to fill in any gaps.
1.1. Learning objectives
By the end of this course you will:
- Be armed with a fundamental toolbox for understanding, designing and analyzing quantum protocols.
- Understand quantum key distribution protocols.
- Understand how untrusted quantum devices can be tested.
- Be familiar with modern quantum cryptography – beyond quantum key distribution.
1.2. Course activities and resources
This is a
- Video modules. Each module consists of 2-3 video lectures. The first video will be an introduction, while the others will give you additional examples or work out something in more detail.
- Quizzes. Each video module is followed by a graded quiz.
- Homework. Pen and paper exercises.
- Julia Labs. Interactive notebook with which you can explore and perform calculations.
- Lecture notes. Providing more details and examples.
In Week 6 we will release the task Programming a quantum network (peer review assignment), where you have to submit your work and give feedback to your peers. Note that the homework of week 8 is optional and there is therefore no points to be earned from these exercises but one set of homework is droppable so your score is not affected by this.
1.3. What we expect from you
As an online
Quizzes, Homework and Julia Labs have only one final deadline. However, we recommend you complete these activities on a weekly basis and that you keep on track in order to benefit from learning within a community.
This course is meant to be a place where you learn with and from others. In this sense, we'd like you to experience collaboration and
When communicating with your fellow learners and course team using
1.4. What you can expect from us/the course team
The course team will release the weekly content, send important announcements, monitor and answer questions on a regular basis using the discussion forum. We'll try to have a daily presence, but as you might understand we cannot promise to quickly attend everyone, due to the thousands of learners participating in this course. But we'll do our best ;-)
2. Course structure & Release Dates
Week 0. A crash course in quantum information (optional)
- What are quantum bits - qubits?
- Combining qubits using the tensor product
- Measuring qubits
- Performing operations on qubits
- The Bloch Sphere representation
Week 1. From essential tools to the first quantum protocol (12th November)
- Density matrices
- Encrypting (quantum) bits: the classical and quantum
one time pad - Combining density matrices using the tensor product
- Classical-quantum states
- Generalized measurements
- The partial trace
Week 2. The power of entanglement (19th November)
- What is quantum entanglement?
- Purification and Uhlman's theorem
- The Schmidt Decomposition
- Sharing a classical secret using entangled quantum states
- Verifying entanglement using a Bell test
- Monogamy of entanglement
Week 3. Quantifying information (26th November)
- What it means to be ignorant: ideal case
- Trace distance and its use in security definitions
- The (min)-entropy including the smooth min-entropy
- Uncertainty principles: simple version BB84
- Extended UR principles: tripartite version
Week 4. From imperfect information to (near) perfect security (3rd December)
- Privacy amplification
- Randomness extractors
- Randomness extraction using
two-universal hashing - The
pretty-good measurement
Week 5. Distributing keys (10th December)
- Introduction to key distribution
- Key distribution with a limited Eve and perfect Bob
- Key distribution with noise on the channel
Guest video: David Elkouss (QuTech) – Practical error correction in key distribution protocols
Week 6. Quantum key distribution protocols (17th December)
- Quantum key distribution: definitions and concepts
- BB84 states and Six states
- BB84 Protocol
- Purifying protocols using entanglement
- Security from a guessing game
- Authentication
Guest video: Nicolas Gisin (University of Geneva) – Quantum key distribution in practice
Week 7. Quantum cryptography using untrusted devices (7th January)
- Device-independent quantum cryptography
- Testing devices using a Bell experiment
- Security of device-independent quantum key distribution against collective attacks
- Security against general attacks
Guest video: Ronald Hanson (QuTech, TU Delft) – The first
Week 8. Quantum cryptography beyond key-distribution (14th January)
- Secure Function Evaluation
- Oblivious transfer - the universal gate of cryptography
- Bit commitment
- Impossibility of bit commitment
- Coin flipping
Week 9. Perfect security from physical assumptions (21st January)
- Evading impossibility
- The noisy storage model
- Bit commitment in the noisy-storage model
- Security from quantum uncertainty
- A universal primitive: weak string erasure
Week 10. Further topics (28th January)
- Position verification
- Quantum computing in the cloud
3. Assessment & Deadlines
To complete this course you have to score at least 60 points of the total mark of 100. The different components count towards the total mark as:
- Quizzes - 10%
- Homework - 60%
- Julia Labs - 20%
- Programming a quantum network (peer review assignment) - 10%
Deadline for Quizzes,
Deadlines for Peer Review Assignement:
- Submit your assignment: 23:59 UTC, January 20, 2019
- Review your peers: 23:59 UTC, January 30, 2019
4. Resources & Tools
All educational resources will be available in the course. They consist of short videos and lecture notes with additional details and examples to support you in the completion of the weekly learning activities: quizzes,
Julia notebooks
Every week has an interactive Julia notebook activity. Julia is a very easy language to perform computations, and we will use it to explore quantum cryptography and to gain intuition. Check out the Getting started > Julia Lab Exercises page in the course for detailed information on how to setup and
5. Certificate
If you're interested in a certificate you can upgrade to a Verified Certificate. These certificates will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of Caltech and DelftX, designating the institutions from which the course originated.
Generating an ID verified certificate
Verified certificates will be issued a few days after the end of the course, to all participants who achieved at least 60% of the total grade. Certificates can be downloaded from your Student Dashboard (look for the Download button next to the name of our course).
Remember that in order to qualify for a certificate, you must achieve a total grade of 60% or higher. You can check your grade at any time under the course’s Progress page. An ID verified Certificate of Achievement is available for $50. You can Upgrade on your edX Dashboard to Verified during the course.
Once produced, a certificate cannot be reissued, hence it is very important that you verify the way in which your name appears. Check that, in your edx.org account, your name is correctly
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LICENSE
Unless otherwise specified the Course Materials of QuCryptox are Copyright Caltech and
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