• Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:55-4:10pm, 202 Upson.
• Instructor: Nick Spooner. Email: nspooner@cornell.edu. Office hours available by request.
• TA: Max Tromanhauser. Email: mft55@cornell.edu. Office hours: Wednesdays 3-4pm, 574 Rhodes.

Quantum information and computation have had a profound impact on cryptography, and understanding the connections between them is an active area of research. This course will cover a selection of cutting-edge topics in quantum cryptography, including quantum attacks on classical protocols, provable security against quantum attacks, cryptographic protocols that leverage quantum resources (e.g. quantum key distribution, quantum money, etc.), and connections to quantum complexity theory.

Scribe signup. Please use this template for scribe notes, and submit them to Max via email.

Scribe notes are available here, and will be updated periodically.

• Natarajan and Vaikuntanathan: Quantum Cryptography at MIT (2024).
• Zhandry: Quantum Cryptography at Princeton (2018).
• Khurana: Quantum Cryptography at UIUC (2022).
• Ma and Vazirani: Cryptography in a Quantum World at Berkeley (2023).
• Yuen: Frontiers of Quantum Complexity and Cryptography at Columbia (2022).

• Homework 1 (due 11:59pm, Friday Sep 26)

Week	Date	Topics	Readings
Part I: Information-theoretic quantum cryptography
1	Aug 26/28	Intro to quantum information Wiesner’s quantum money scheme Monogamy of entanglement games	Lecture 1 of the MIT course
2	Sep 2/4	Applications of MoE BB84 key exchange
3	Sep 9/11	BB84 cont.
4	Sep 16/18	Quantum state encryption Impossibility of information-theoretic quantum bit commitments
Part II: Post-quantum cryptography
5	Sep 23/25	Intro to classical (post-quantum) cryptography Post-quantum (collapsing) bit commitment Post-quantum zero knowledge
6	Sep 30/Oct 2	Quantum rewinding Post-quantum succinct arguments
7	Oct 7/9	The quantum random oracle model
Fall break
8	Oct 16	Regev’s reduction
9	Oct 21/23	Yamakawa-Zhandry
Part III: Quantum cryptography with computational assumptions
10	Oct 28/30	Proofs of quantumness
11	Nov 4/6	Delegating quantum computation
12	Nov 11/13	Pseudorandom states (PRS) Commitments from PRS Separating PRS from all classical crypto
13	Nov 19/21	Pseudorandom unitaries (PRU)
14	Nov 25	Quantum cryptography and black holes
Thanksgiving
15	Dec 2/4	Student presentations

• Homework: There will be two or three homework assignments. I strongly prefer that you write your assignments in LaTeX. Assignments are to be submitted directly to the TA via email. Additionally, each student will be asked to write scribe notes for two lectures; sign-up here (Cornell authentication required). Please use this template. Scribe notes are due one week after the corresponding class, unless agreed otherwise.
• Project: The final project for this course consists of a write-up and a presentation of a paper or papers related to the course topic.
• Grade: The overall grade will be 30% homework, 20% scribe notes, and 50% final project.
• Collaboration and plagiarism: You are free to discuss assignments with your peers, and use internet and textbook resources. However, all submitted work must be your own, and you must acknowledge any resources that you used. In the final report, you must include appropriate citations. Any instance of plagiarism may be subject to investigation according to University regulations.
• AI assistants: Course policies permit the use of AI assistants. However, you should be careful: AI tools often produce incorrect or unsubstantiated claims. The correctness of submitted work remains your responsibility, as does appropriate citation. In particular, is not adequate to cite an AI tool as a source.
• Participation: Students are expected to attend every meeting of the class (though occasional absences will be excused) and participate in discussions.
• Academic integrity: Absolute integrity is expected of every Cornell student in all academic undertakings; he/she must in no way misrepresent his/her work fraudulently or unfairly advance his/her academic status, or be a party to another student's failure to maintain academic integrity. The maintenance of an atmosphere of academic honor and the fulfillment of the provisions of this Code are the responsibilities of the students and faculty of Cornell University. Therefore, all students and faculty members shall refrain from any action that would violate the basic principles of this Code.
• Religious observance: Cornell University is committed to supporting students who practice their religious beliefs. Please discuss religious absences with me well in advance of the religious holiday (preferably early in the semester, but at least two weeks before the observance) so we can arrange and schedule a reasonable alternative. The Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making (OSMM) maintains a religious accommodation website with valuable information, including a sample email to request accommodation. If you have any questions, you may contact Joel Harter, Associate Dean of Students for Spirituality and Meaning-Making, or the Office of the Dean of Faculty.
• Disability disclosure: Your access in this course is important to me. Please request your accommodation letter early in the semester, or as soon as you become registered with SDS, so that we have adequate time to arrange your approved academic accommodations. If you experience any access barriers in this course, such as with printed content, graphics, online materials, or any communication barriers; reach out to me or SDS right away. If you need an immediate accommodation, please speak with me after class or send an email message to me and SDS.