QRC Seminar Series - Prof. Antonio Acín

Title:

Certification of quantum technologies

Abstract:

Quantum technologies promise applications with no classical counterpart: more powerful computers or novel forms of encryption become possible when information is encoded on quantum systems. Given a quantum system, how can one ensure that it (i) is entangled? (ii) random? (iii) secure? (iv) performs a computation correctly? The concept of quantum certification embraces all these questions. It is crucial for the future development of quantum information technologies, but also goes at the heart of the fundamental question of what distinguishes quantum from classical physics. The talk first provides an introduction to the general problem of quantum certification and then focuses on methods for the certification of quantum cryptography protocols and quantum optimisers.

Bio:

Antonio Acín is a world-wide authority in Quantum Information Theory and Quantum Foundations. He is an ICREA Research Professor at ICFO, where he leads the Quantum Information Theory group, one of the largest ones in Europe. His research has been awarded with 4 grants from the European Research Council: 1 Starting, 1 Proof of Concept, 1 Consolidator and 1 Advanced Grant, the latter starting in 2020. He also received an AXA Chair in Quantum Information Science in 2016. He has co-authored over 160 research papers.