When does a quantum link produce a secure key?
Model how loss, detector noise, and limited data change the amount of secret key a quantum link can generate.
Python / NumPy / Finite statistics
Explore project S1The research · Nine project directions
Find a question
you want to follow.
Explore three connected thrusts in secure and reliable quantum networks. Each project offers a concrete starting point, room for discovery, and a path to a result you can explain.
Project catalog
9 projects
How does a quantum network keep trust alive?
Design a model for authentication, key refresh, and recovery when messages are delayed, replayed, or lost.
State machines / Threat modeling
Explore project S2Can quantum information prove where you are?
Investigate how separated adversaries use entanglement and nonlocal computation to challenge location-based authentication.
Qiskit / Quantum circuits
Explore project S3Which small quantum code wins under biased noise?
Enumerate error patterns to see when different small codes exchange their performance advantage.
Exact enumeration / Stabilizer codes
Explore project C1Is the advantage in the code—or the decoder?
Separate code structure from decoder assumptions, then test what happens when errors become correlated.
Maximum likelihood / Graph algorithms
Explore project C2Can you discover a better small quantum code?
Search a bounded family of stabilizer codes and verify performance with independent computational checks.
Code search / Qiskit
Explore project C3What can a network compute together?
Build small-network protocols for shared functions of locally held quantum states while accounting for communication.
Bloch vectors / Teleportation
Explore project Q1Can local interactions create global agreement?
Study quantum gossip and interaction rules that bring local qubit states toward a common state.
Quantum gossip / Graph models
Explore project Q2What happens to agreement when the network is noisy?
Test how channel noise changes consensus, and whether simple protection helps within a fixed interaction budget.
Density matrices / Noise models
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How projects are matched
A direction to start.
A question to make your own.
You’ll indicate your research interests and preferred thrusts. Matching considers your preparation, interests, available mentoring, and cohort balance. Final scope is developed with your mentor.
These are research directions, not a promise that every listed project will be assigned. A good outcome may be a new calculation, a benchmark, a protocol comparison, or a carefully explained negative result.
Suggested preparation on each page is guidance, not an extra eligibility requirement.
Your next research question starts here
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No prior quantum coursework required. A summer of research, mentorship, and discovery at Illinois.