Illustrating quantum information with quantum candies

Lin, Junan; Mor, Tal; Shapira, Roman

The field of quantum information is becoming more known to the general public. However, effectively demonstrating the concepts underneath quantum science and technology to the general public can be a challenging job. We investigate, extend, and much expand here"quantum candies"(invented by Jacobs), a pedagogical model for intuitively describing some basic concepts in quantum information, including quantum bits, complementarity, the no-cloning principle, and entanglement. Following Jacob's quantum candies description of the well-known quantum key distribution protocol BB84, we explicitly demonstrate various additional quantum cryptography protocols using quantum candies in an approachable manner. The model we investigate can be a valuable tool for science and engineering educators who would like to help the general public to gain more insights into quantum science and technology: most parts of this paper, including many protocols for quantum cryptography, are expected to be easily understandable by a layperson without any previous knowledge of mathematics, physics, or cryptography.