Quantum communication: secrecy and robustness

• Applicant: Dr. Minglai Cai
• Subject Area: Hardware Systems and Architectures for Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Engineering Systems
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460721122

The applicant’s research interest specifies in robustness and security for quantum channels, i.e., a communication channel that can carry quantum information, e.g., photons. Both channel robustness and security for an information processing system are very important features in the research of information theory, since many modern communication systems are vulnerable to passive attacks, i.e., eavesdropping, as well as active attacks, i.e., jamming, caused by of an interference of an entangled environment. Preceding works in quantum information theory have focused on one of either of the two attacks. The applicant’s goal is to bring these two aspects together, namely to investigate the transmission of secret messages from a sending to a receiving party. The messages ought to be kept secret from an eavesdropper. Communication takes place over a quantum channel, which is, in addition to noise from the environment, subjected to the action of a jammer, who actively manipulates the channel. The proposed project will provide quantitative results to various robust and secure information transmission models, some caused by fluctuations in the environment’s parameters, some by active manipulation. These results will help to formulate the design paradigms for future communication systems, filling international research gaps and solving key technical issues.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Spain
• Host: Professor Dr. Andreas Winter