QSI Seminar: Maggie Williams (UMBC QSI)
Host: Todd Pittman
Location
Physics : 401
Date & Time
November 6, 2025, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Description
TITLE: Lights, Camera… Quantum! An Interactive Live Demonstration of Quantum Key Distribution
ABSTRACT: Lights, camera… quantum! In this interactive seminar, we’ll take a fast-paced tour of the history and basic principles of quantum key distribution (QKD), one of the pioneering technologies that helped launch the field of quantum information science. Following a 10-minute overview, the audience will become active participants in an interactive live demonstration using a functional QKD demo system. We’ll divide into two teams—“Alice” and “Bob”—to generate a secret key in real time, experiencing firsthand how quantum physics makes eavesdropping detectable and secure communication possible. This unique format blends lecture, audience participation, and experiment to bring the promise of quantum cryptography directly into the QSI seminar hall.
This seminar will be given by Maggie Williams, a QSI Graduate Fellow and PhD student in the UMBC Physics Department.
