Members:

Ken Barnes
Ben Blackmore
James Coutry
Brett Johnson

• Johnson, George. A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer. 1st. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
  This book has a fairly large section on quantum cryptography. It covers some of the history of it, some of the first attempts, transmissions across longer distances and eavesdropping attempts. The first successful transmission of quantum cryptography was between to computers that were just 30cm away from each other. There is still a lot that needs to be done in order for quantum cryptography to work but progression is being made each day. Scientists at the University of Cambridge and at Toshiba have made light emitting diodes that expel one photon at a time, but the process only works at extremely cold temperatures. At MIT, The Unites States Air Force, and two other laboratories figured out how to store a single photon in a supercooled crystal.



• Seife, Charles. Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from our Brains to Black Holes. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2006.
  This book covers more about quantum computers in general but it has great information on quantum theory, which is basically the realm of the very small. Qubits are the basic building blocks of quantum computers. Classical computers use bits, a 1 or a 0, but qubits can have a 1, a 0, or both at the same time. Quantum computers have the potential to work with extremely large numbers, say factoring them, in just a matter of seconds. They could break a code in a matter of minutes, something that could take a classical computer a lifetime. The effect of this would make most of the cryptography in use today instantly obsolete. This is what keeps public key cryptography secure. When quantum cryptography systems can be engineered to operate over long distances, the quest for privacy will be over because quantum cryptography is absolutely secure. It is based on quantum theory which is one of the most successful theories in physics.



• Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography. 1st. New York, New York: Doubleday, 1999.
  Gives a nice crash course about quantum cryptography. One of the founders was Stephen Wiesner, who was a graduate student at Columbia University. He originally came up with the idea of quantum money which would basically be impossible to counterfeit. Quantum money basically has light-traps in the bills which trap and retain single photons (light particles). If a counterfeiter tries to measure a bill to make a copy of it, the states of the photons change and therefore will not match up with the banks records of the original polarizations of the bills. The only bad this is that the cost of implementing quantum money just makes it completely impractical, but it was this idea that led to quantum cryptography. This book also gives a great example of how quantum cryptography works by using an example where two people are trying to transmit playing cards to each other.



• Schweber, Bill. (2005). Quantum Cryptography: When Your Link Has to be Really, Really Secure. EDN, Vol 50, p 41 - 46.
  Article all about quantum cryptography, it has several diagrams that illustrate how the individual photons are actually acting. Lists some of the costs an flaws. It also talks about a single photon detector unit which was built by IBM Almaden. Includes a nice diagram of everything that is going on during a quantum cryptography transmission between the infamous characters Bob and Alice.



• Wiesner, S. (1983). Conjugate Coding. Sigact News Vol. 15 p. 78-88.
  Discusses the early beginnings of quantum cryptography by Stephen Wiesner who proposed a quantum realization of unforgeable bank notes in the early 1970's. Wiesner's ideas stated that the bank notes can't be reproduced exactly without knowing the state of the qubits. His proposal were initally rejected but later published. Many believe Wiesner to be the first such source to explore the area of quantum cryptography.



• C.H. Bennett & G. Brassard. (1989). The dawn of a new era for quantum cryptography: the experimental prototype works! Sigact News Vol. 20(4)
  Discusses the needs and definition of a formal quantum communcation model.



• C.H. Bennett, Francois Bessette & Bassard (1992). Experimental Quantum Cryptography. EUROCRYPT '90. Vol 473 May 90 pp. 48-61.
  Desribes the results and finding from Bennett, Bessette's and Bassard's implementation of quantum key distribution. The article discusses major topic points in quantum cryptography such as the exchange of random quantum transmissions using polarized light, the extent in which eavesdropping might take place, and what cryptanalysis techniques may be used to exploit the system because of the uncertainty principal of quantum physics as opposed to mathematical assumptions used.



• Lomonaco S. (1998) A quick Glance at Quantum Cryptography. Cryptologia Vol 21. No. 1 January 1999 pp. 1-41.
  Discusses the applications of quantum cryptography and their affect on the dimensions of secret communication. Discusses a constructed crptographic communication system which detects unauthorized eavesdropping.



• Mayers, D. (2001) Unconditional security in quantum cryptography. Journal of the ACM 4(3) pp. 351-406.
  Brief description of basic techniques to the prove the security of quantum cryptography is unconditional. A lot of discussion on quantum key distribution descreibe by Bennett and Brassard. Uses what is known as a POVM model to prove the security and key generation.