Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory joined forces with EPB of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to demonstrate the first transmission of an entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over a commercial network with no downtime.

Colt Technology Services (Colt), the global digital infrastructure company, today announced the successful completion of a groundbreaking quantum-secured encryption trial across its optical wave network. Colt collaborated with a number of technology partners for the trial including Adtran, Ciena, ID Quantique, Nokia and Toshiba, with a view to Colt offering a suite of services for global businesses to prepare for a quantum-secured future.

In the quest for ultra-secure, long-range quantum communication, two major challenges stand in the way: the unpredictable nature of atmospheric turbulence and the limitations of current optical wavefront correction techniques. Researchers at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Professor Ebrahim Karimi, the director of Nexus for Quantum Technologies, in collaboration with the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (Germany), have made significant advances in overcoming both obstacles. Their two latest breakthroughs—an AI-powered turbulence forecasting tool called TAROQQO and a high-speed Adaptive Optics (AO) system for correcting turbulence in quantum channels—represent a turning point in developing free-space quantum networks.

In a pioneering field test, quantum entanglement was successfully distributed among three devices located in different buildings on the TU Delft Campus. Utilizing self-developed optical devices, TNO established connections over 150 meters of free space and 200 meters of optical fiber. This small-scale configuration simulates a future satellite-ground network connection. The communication system’s components were developed by six different companies.

Researchers from Singapore and China have used a superconducting quantum processor to study the phenomenon of quantum transport in unprecedented detail.

The future of data security depends on the reliable application of quantum technology, but its widespread adoption requires rigorous verification. Researchers in Japan have developed a novel approach to verify quantum protocols, ensuring their reliability in safety- and security-critical applications. This advancement addresses the need for trustworthy quantum systems, which is essential for the secure deployment of quantum technologies in high-reliability systems.

Retelit, Italy's leading B2B telecommunications company, together with Telebit, a specialized system integrator in telecommunications, digital solutions, and e-mobility, and ThinkQuantum, a University of Padua spin-off offering cybersecurity solutions and quantum communication systems, has successfully completed a trial for the application of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) as a method for encrypting data transmitted over fiber optic cables.

Unlike classical encryption, which relies on mathematical algorithms, quantum encryption assures security based on physical principles. Detection of espionage or interference is guaranteed by unavoidable alteration of the quantum states involved.

A Research team led by academician GUO Guangcan, Prof. LI Chuanfeng and Prof. LIU Biheng from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), collaborating with Prof. Giulio Chiribella from the University of Hong Kong, constructed a coherent superposition of quantum evolution with two opposite directions in a photonic system and confirmed its advantage in characterizing input-output indefiniteness. Their study was published in Physical Review Letters.

This demonstration showcases the ability of quantum communication technology to efficiently work alongside the DWDM optical network.