Focus on device independent quantum information

Abstract

The field of quantum information is born out of a sequence of surprising discoveries in the 1980s, all building on the same deep insight: the counter-intuitive quantum properties of particles such as photons or electrons can be put to task in order to accomplish certain computational, cryptographic, and information-theoretic tasks impossible to realize by purely classical means. A famous example is the cryptographic problem of key distribution, for which Bennett and Brassard devised the first quantum protocol in 1984 [6] and whose security relies on the no-cloning principle of quantum mechanics. Another example is the computational problem of factoring large numbers, for which Shor devised the first efficient quantum algorithm in 1994 [32] by exploiting the possibility for quantum systems to evolve in superpositions of exponentially many different states.