Welcome to QuIC!
The Centre for Quantum Information and Communication (QuIC) has been active in quantum information sciences for more than ten years, with research contributions ranging from fundamental questions such as quantum measurement, quantum entanglement, or quantum nonlocality, to more information-flavored issues such as quantum communication, quantum cryptography, or quantum algorithms. It has invented and contributed to the demonstration of the first continuous-variable (Gaussian) quantum cryptographic protocol. It currently holds two patents, and has published numerous scientific papers among which two in the journal Nature, one in Nature Photonics, and one in Nature Communications.
Nicolas J. Cerf, group leader.
2012 Nobel Prize in Physics : celebrating the race towards quantum computers (October 9, 2012)
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Serge Haroche (Collège de France and ENS, Paris, France) and David J. Wineland (NIST and University of Colorado, Boulder, USA) for the development of “ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems”. Haroche and Wineland have carried out pioneering experiments in the field of quantum optics, independently developing approaches to examine, control, and count quantum particles. Wineland works with trapped ions and measures them with light, whereas Haroche controls and measures photons. Besides reporting multiple breakthroughs in fundamental science, their experiments have led to the construction of extreme precision atomic clocks and paved the way for researchers making the first steps towards building computers based on quantum physics.
NEWS : The NIST has selected Keccak as the winner of the new SHA-3 hash algorithm (October 2, 2012)
Gilles Van Assche, a former PhD student at QuIC, is member of the team of four cryptographers who designed the Keccak algorithm, selected as the winner of the SHA-3 Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Competition by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In the review process, the cryptographic community provided an enormous amount of expert feedback and NIST winnowed the original 64 candidates down to the five finalist candidates. These finalists were further reviewed in a third public conference in March 2012, and NIST finally announced Keccak as the winner of this competition on October 2nd, 2012. Keccak will now become NIST’s new SHA-3 hash algorithm. See the press release.
VISITORS
| Past Visitors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Duration | Home Institution |
| Raúl García-Patrón Sánchez | September 2011 | Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik |
| Carlos Navarrete-Benlloch | February 2011 | University of Valencia |
| Prof. Serge Haroche | June 2010 | Collège de France |
| Anita Eusebi | May-July 2010 | Università di Camerino |
| Christos Gagatsos | February 2010 | University of Athens |
COURSE
| Quantum Technologies and Quantum Information | |
| Series of seminars (in French) primarily addressed to ULB students of Ecole Polytechnique (BA3, MA1, MA2) during the academic year 2009-2010. | |
| Everybody is welcome! | |
| The seminars are independent of each other so that any of them can be followed separately. | |
| Organizers : | Edouard Brainis (OPERA) |
| Nicolas Cerf (QuIC) | |
COLLEGE BELGIQUE - 2009
| Introduction à l'information quantique et au calcul quantique | ||
| 1 October 16:00 - 18:00 | Nicolas Cerf | Concepts de l'information quantique |
|---|---|---|
| 21 October 16:00 - 18:00 | Philippe Grangier | Non localité quantique, paradoxe EPR et inégalités de Bell |
| 12 November 16:00 - 18:00 | Nicolas Cerf | Cryptographie quantique |
| 9 December 16:00 - 18:00 | Frédéric Magniez | Calcul quantique |
| Venue: | Palais des Académies, Rue Ducale 1, B-1000, Bruxelles | |
| Organized by: | Collège Belgique | |
Continuous-Variable Quantum Erasure-Correcting Code
QuIC invented a new quantum erasure-correcting code, which has been successfully implemented experimentally in collaboration with Ulrik Andersen (Technical University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and Gerd Leuchs (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany). The results have been published in Nature Photonics 4, 700 - 705 (2010) and presented in ULB [intra]lettre no. 145.
Security by Quantum Randomness - QuIC announces the creation of its first Spin-off company, SQR
The Spin-off SQR will commercialize the outcome of our research at QuIC in the field of Information Security, Quantum Cryptography, and Quantum Physics. See Newsletter of the Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles. SQR is one of the 25 start-ups that have been selected, among 234 innovating companies, for the European Tech Tour Association (ETT) held in Lausanne on November 17-18, 2010.