Towards Practical and Secure Quantum Communication

Descrizione del progetto

Sviluppare metodi crittografici per applicazioni concrete

La crittografia quantistica sta rivoluzionando il mondo delle comunicazioni sicure, offrendo una protezione basata sulle leggi fondamentali della fisica e rendendola immune alla potenza di calcolo dei futuri avversari; a differenza dei metodi tradizionali, garantisce la sicurezza grazie alla generazione di numeri casuali quantistici e alla distribuzione di chiavi quantistiche, che forniscono risultati realmente casuali e chiavi di crittografia inviolabili. Sostenuto dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto TPSQCrypto contribuirà a far progredire queste tecnologie per renderle applicabili nella pratica cercando di verificare la possibilità di adattare i presupposti di sicurezza a piattaforme specifiche, come la fotonica, per creare sistemi altamente sicuri che siano fattibili da implementare. La ricerca proposta aprirà la strada a soluzioni di crittografia quantistica applicabili alle comunicazioni di tutti i giorni.

Obiettivo

Cryptography is vital in the digital age, underpinning secure communication and random number generation. Traditional methods, however, cannot guarantee security against adversaries with sufficient computational power. Quantum information science offers a paradigm shift through quantum random number generators (QRNGs) and quantum key distribution (QKD), enabling security based on the physical laws of nature rather than technological limitations. In particular, device-independent approaches ensure ultimate security without requiring detailed knowledge of the internal workings of the devices. However, designing quantum cryptographic systems that are both ultimately secure and practical under real-world conditions still remains a critical challenge.

This proposal addresses this challenge by bridging ultimate security frameworks based on device independence with practical implementations. The key idea is to tailor security assumptions to the strengths of specific platforms, while retaining strong security guarantees. For example, photonic platforms offer high precision in photon-number statistics, which justifies relaxing device-independent assumptions for state preparations. Instead, the protocol can incorporate well-motivated energetic assumptions, enabling a more realistic yet still secure implementations.

This two-year project begins addressing ultimate security of QRNGs, quantifying the threat of quantum attacks and developing novel numerical tools to certify the amount of randomness in their presence. The second phase addresses the balance between security and implementability of QKD protocols, introducing key elements such as multiple preparation choices and energetic assumptions, for practical long-distance secure communication.

By leveraging accessible physical systems and realistic assumptions, the project aims to deliver feasible QRNG and QKD solutions, bridging theory and experiment towards practical and secure quantum cryptography.