Let’s play with Quantum Cryptography. A project for high school students during the pandemic

A. Fioretti, F. Baffigi, A. Macchi, O. Morsch, E. Tognoni, P. Andronico

Il Nuovo Saggiatore, Vol. 37, N. 5-6 (2021)

Abstract

Quantum physics and quantum cryptography in particular are not generally taught to high school students in Italy, not even to those who follow the scientific curriculum of the “liceo scientifico”. Nonetheless, young people are often puzzled by paradoxes of quantum mechanics that they may hear about in TV programs or social media. Moreover, they see cryptography being applied routinely in social media communications or online commerce. These facts raise questions. How private can a communication be? How can quantum physics help secure communication protocols? In the Pisa section of CNR-INO we tried to help a group of 40 students to figure out some answers to these questions in a collaborative and playful project, carried out remotely during the 2021 pandemic year.