Netherlands Collaboration to Build High-Speed Quantum Network

(Optics.org) A QuTech collaboration, which is pioneering the application of quantum technologies in The Netherlands, has launched plans to build a high-speed quantum network connecting the Randstad metropolitan region.
“Among other things, the project is intended to lead to new techniques, insights and standards that will bring a quantum network closer,” stated the collaboration, which also includes telecoms firm KPN, Dutch ICT development organization SURF, and a VU Amsterdam spin-out company called Optical Positioning Navigation and Timing (OPNT).
According to project leaders at Technical University of Delft and the TNO research organization, the effort will focus on connecting quantum processors across a “significant” distance.
“The aim is to build the very first fully functional quantum network using high-speed fiber connections,” they announced. “A quantum network is a radically new internet technology, with the potential for creating pioneering applications.”
Erwin van Zwet, Internet Division Engineering Lead at QuTech, added: “Working with these partners, we expect to have taken significant steps towards a quantum network by the end of the project.”
Acknowledging that the technology required is still at an early stage, the four parties involved in the collaboration say that they stand to benefit from joining forces right now.
Wojciech Kozlowski, a postdoctoral researcher at QuTech with responsibility for one of the work packages defined in the project, said: “Every day we are working on finding answers to the question of how network operators, such as KPN or SURF, can deploy a quantum network, and what sort of services they can offer their users