QSI exhibitor at Atlanttic Open Day, 2023.

Outreach activity by Doctoral Candidate Alessandro Marcomini and Doctoral Candidate Vaisakh Mannalath.

On October 20th, 2023 the Doctoral Candidates Alessandro Marcomini and Vaisakh Mannalath took part in the outreach activity ”Conecta con atlanTTic” held at the Telecommunications Engineering faculty of University of Vigo. This yearly event, organised by the atlanTTic research center for telecommunications technologies, has the goal of sharing results and ideas streaming from the research of the various group in the field with the community of the city of Vigo.

The Doctoral Candidates held a morning session with high school students and in the afternoon session they opened their stand to families and enthusiasts, introducing them all to the principles of quantum mechanics and their applications to communication engineering in a playful and engaging way. Their activities included hands-on games to raise awareness in kids about the threats of new technologies to current cryptographic schemes and the promised security enabled by Quantum Key Distribution, as well as more technical discussion about the properties of quantum mechanics that allow for it, such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. Eventually, they could also introduce the more expert audience to their own work and results, highlighting the potential of their current research in addressing practical issues.

Their presentation has been welcomed with excitement as both youngsters and adults engaged in active discussion with them, asking questions and showing great interest in the promises of the important new technologies that our team is developing.