Building the quantum communication networks of the future

Over the next few decades, the internet is poised to evolve as quantum information systems are incorporated into the global network. This ‘quantum internet’ will be revolutionary for its ability to transmit information quickly and securely, but it will require building extensive quantum infrastructure and marrying it to existing classical communication networks.

Munro et al. outlined some of the steps that need to be taken to achieve a functional quantum internet. In their perspective, they analyzed several necessary technologies and approaches for reaching that goal.

“We have reached an interesting stage in the development of quantum communication systems,” said author Bill Munro. “We saw a significant gap between those designing large scale quantum networks and those building the small-scale demonstrations of today. We need to link them to realize tomorrow’s quantum internet.”

The researchers discussed several aspects of the quantum internet that would need to be developed, including infrastructure like quantum amplifiers and repeaters. They compared nascent technologies and outlined the unique considerations required of both quantum networks and the classical communications networks that will run alongside them.

The team expects their perspective to serve as a general roadmap for how to reach a global quantum internet from the technologies and methods currently being developed. They are planning to focus more on the specifics of that development in future work.

“While we have written a visionary piece, we need to work out the finer details of how we get from where we are today to tomorrow’s quantum internet,” said Munro. “There are many ways things could develop and the hardware details do matter.”

Source: “Designing tomorrow’s quantum internet,” by William Munro, Nicolo’ Lo Piparo, Josephine Dias, Michael Hanks, and Kae Nemoto, AVS Quantum Science (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1116/5.0092069 .

This paper is part of the Quantum Networks: Past, Present and Future Collection, learn more here .