EU-Supported ‘CiViQ’ Prototype to Be Tested on Existing Optical Communications Network

(Optics.org.news) The coordinator of the European Commission-supported “CiViQ” project – part of the wider billion-euro flagship effort to develop useful quantum technologies – says that new prototypes will be tested on an existing optical communications network later this year.
In an announcement by the Quantum Flagship, Valerio Pruneri from Barcelona’s Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) is quoted saying that the CiViQ team’s continuous-variable take on quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) will enable wide-scale deployment of the technique.
Until now QKD, which typically relies on single-photon emitter and detector components to ensure failsafe encryption, has been limited to applications that can justify the high cost of the approach.
The CiViQ approach is also said to be fundamentally different from previous QKD-related projects, because its technology specifications are being defined by end-user needs.
“Understanding its quantum end-users means CiViQ can for the first time integrate the QKD technology into existing modern telecom networks without the need to build ad-hoc, separate quantum communication infrastructure,” reports the collaboration.