Nerd Nite Calgary

The economic, political, and social well-being of all developed countries depends crucially on secure electronic communication infrastructure, e.g. for e-banking, e-health, e-commerce, and e-government. However, current public key cryptosystems, created to protect sensitive information in transit, rely on unproven assumptions about computational complexity, are susceptible to algorithmic advances and better classical computer technology, and will become obsolete with the advent of the quantum computer. Hence, the secrecy of messages encoded and sent in the past or present, even if ensured today, is vulnerable to future improvements in code breaking, which may lead to decoding of recorded messages with insufficient protection before they lose importance. The Quantum Cryptography and Communication Laboratory (QC2Lab) focuses on the development and implementation of quantum key distribution systems, which promise the ultimate solution to these problems: security guaranteed by fundamental quantum laws that cannot be compromised by new technology. More specifically, we work on improving the fundamental understanding of key concepts that underpin extended quantum-secured communication networks, create the requisite quantum technology, assemble this technology into QKD systems and quantum repeaters, and work with various partners in Alberta and elsewhere to translate our research into the real-world. Highlights over the past few years have been the development of a solid-state quantum memory for entangled photons, and the first real-world implementation of a revolutionary new quantum key distribution protocol with enhanced robustness against side-channel attacks and particular suitability for network implementations.

I can’t believe I still have to protest this crap
Roberta Lexier, PhD, Mount Royal University