Quantum Candies and Quantum Cryptography

TL;DR

This paper expands on the 'quantum candies' pedagogical model to intuitively explain quantum information concepts and demonstrate quantum cryptography protocols, making complex ideas accessible to the general public.

Contribution

It extends the quantum candies model to include various quantum cryptography protocols, enhancing its utility as an educational tool for lay audiences.

Findings

Quantum candies effectively illustrate quantum bits and entanglement.

The model enables approachable demonstrations of quantum cryptography protocols.

Most content is understandable without prior physics or cryptography knowledge.

Abstract

The field of quantum information is becoming more known to the general public. However, effectively demonstrating the concepts underneath quantum science and technology to the general public can be a challenging job. We investigate, extend, and much expand here "quantum candies" (invented by Jacobs), a pedagogical model for intuitively describing some basic concepts in quantum information, including quantum bits, complementarity, the no-cloning principle, and entanglement. Following Jacob's quantum candies description of the well known quantum key distribution protocol BB84, we explicitly demonstrate various additional quantum cryptography protocols using quantum candies in an approachable manner. The model we investigate can be a valuable tool for science and engineering educators who would like to help the general public to gain more insights about quantum science and technology: most parts of this paper, including many protocols for quantum cryptography, are expected to be easily understandable by a layperson without any previous knowledge of mathematics, physics, or cryptography.