FEATURE needing to understand every piece of physics underneath the network.
QIA’ s second phase, known as SGA2, is designed to tackle that integration problem. One of its defining targets is to connect two metropolitan-scale quantum networks through a long-distance fibre link using quantum repeaters. The demonstration could provide an important test of whether quantum networking can escape the geographical limitations that have constrained many experimental networks.
Repeaters are regarded as essential because quantum information cannot simply be amplified in the same way as signals travelling through today’ s Internet and telecommunications networks.
As distance increases, photon loss becomes a fundamental obstacle. Quantum repeaters are intended to overcome that limitation by enabling entanglement to be established across successive sections of a network rather than requiring fragile quantum states to travel uninterrupted across the entire distance.
Delivering that capability outside carefully controlled laboratory experiments is one of the technologies standing between today’ s quantum networking demonstrations and larger-scale infrastructure.
From components to a network
Qblox, one of QIA’ s industrial partners, will develop control-stack technology and
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