|
Project Leader :
Barry
Sanders
Institute for Quantum
information Science - University of Calgary
bsanders@qis.ucalgary.ca
Short Project Description:
Over the last century, scientists have slowly progressed from observing
quantum phenomena to controlling them. Effective control of quantum
systems will be essential for continued development of information
technology; as the sizes of computer components approaches the atomic
scale, quantum technologies will be necessary for the storage and
processing of information. However, quantum technologies can do much
more than just allow us to miniaturize further: they allow us to
exploit the quantum features of nature. The ability to exploit quantum
mechanics opens up a whole new mode of computation that may allow
computations previously thought infeasible or impossible. A dramatic
example is the factorization of large numbers, which would crack most
of modern-day cryptography widely believed that any device based on
classical mechanics requires an exponential number of steps in order to
crack these systems, devices exploiting quantum principles can (in
theory) crack these systems in a very small number of steps.
Recent developments in the quantum theory of fault-tolerant
error-correction suggest that the obstacles in implementing large-scale
quantum computers are technological rather than fundamental. Scientists
around the world are striving to overcome the grate technological
challenges to realizing quantum computers large enough and stable
enough to implement computations such as the factoring algorithm.
However, quantum physics does not forbid information security. To the
contrary, the Uncertainty Principle guarantees that any eaves-dropping
of quantum information will perturb the information, and this
perturbation can be detected by the legitimate parties. This simple
principle can be exploited to develop cryptographic protocols whose
security lies not on any unproven mathematical assumptions (like the
difficulty of factoring), but on the laws of physics. The impact of the
laws of physics on the theory and practice of computing and
communicating cannot be ignored.
The general objective is to develop novel systems and techniques for
information processing, transmission, and security by exploiting the
properties of quantum mechanical operations. A complementary objective
is to increase our understanding of the limitations of what can be
accomplished with quantum information. Quantum information processing
is a field of study that requires expertise from a wide range of areas,
including (but not limited to) algorithms and complexity, quantum
mechanics, information theory, cryptography and communication theory.
Our research objectives can be divided into four projects:
Quantum algorithms and complexity theory
Quantum communication and information security
Theory of quantum information implementations
Quantum information theory and entanglement theory
Please click on the menu item "Research" to find out more about the
individual projects.
Past Project Leader:
Richard Cleve
Institute for Quantum Computing - University of Waterloo
cleve@iqc.ca
|
