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Quantum communication can ensure the interception-proof exchange of information and data. This is because data packets can be secured in quantum networks, using entangled photon pairs. Any unauthorized attempt to open it would end the interlocking state and thus be noticed immediately.

In addition to security, quantum networks have another central function. They can create very powerful, secure connections between quantum computers and between quantum sensors. That would be the key to distributed quantum computing. Several quantum computers are interconnected to form a system with scaled capacity and performance. Secure quantum networks are also essential for remote access to quantum computers, which are initially available only to a limited extent. This enables industrial and scientific users to familiarize themselves with the possibilities of quantum computing right from the start or to benefit from the advantages of decentralized quantum sensor networks.

World of Quantum 2025

Become part of a dynamic international community that is already meeting for the third time at World of Quantum in Munich. Quantum technologies continue to develop in an integrative cooperation between solution providers, science and practical application. Secure quantum networks are a central building block for the market success of quantum computing and quantum sensor technology—and vice versa.

That’s why the community concept is so important. Similar to quantum entanglement, the technology fields of computing, sensor technology and communication are inseparable: they continue to develop synchronously. They are based on the same quantum mechanical principles. And they use comparable, predominantly photonic building blocks.

At World of Quantum 2025, you will meet leading solution providers, bright minds from the field of research and interested users from many industries, including:

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Medicine and diagnostics
  • Sensors and measuring technology
  • Information and communication technology
  • Mechanical and plant engineering
  • Automation
  • Chemistry and pharmaceuticals

Quantum networks: strategically decisive

Quantum networks fulfill many tasks. They make communication bug-proof, allow external users remote access to quantum computers, connect quantum computers of various types to form quantum systems, or create connections to decentralized quantum sensors.

With these functions, quantum networks are strategically decisive for the success of quantum technologies as well as for their rapid market penetration and acceptance. This is obvious with quantum computing. Unlike conventional computers, quantum computers will remain a limited resource not available to all companies, research centers or households for the foreseeable future. This is due to the fact that their operation requires specific infrastructure—such as cryo-cooling to temperatures close to absolute zero and secure shielding against environmental influences.

In order to provide many users with secure access to quantum computers, there will initially be Metropolitan-Scale Quantum Networks. There is a practical reason for their limited regional range: currently there are no repeaters that can be used to amplify transmitted quantum signals. This is in contrast to the no-cloning theorem, according to which no copy of an unknown quantum state is possible.

Technological gaps such as these have so far limited quantum communication. But the quantum community has proven more than once that it can quickly turn boundaries into surmountable hurdles. For example, the low-noise conversion of entangled quanta into standard telecom frequencies and their transmission via conventional optical fibers was long considered an almost insurmountable challenge. Corresponding solutions will be on show at World of Quantum 2025.

In order to be able to test the hardware and software for quantum communication in practice, research infrastructures are currently being created in many places: dark fiber networks, nodes for a quantum internet of the future and satellites with corresponding photon sources that generate secure quantum keys and transmit them to users on earth.

Security-relevant for numerous sectors

Quantum cryptography is a key technology. It is foreseeable that today’s encryption methods can be overridden with quantum computers. In order to continue to guarantee data security and protect critical infrastructures, government organizations, the financial sector, the energy industry and the telecommunications sector need quantum-secure solutions. There is a separate field of research for this, post-quantum cryptography, which is all about quantum-secure encryption with highly complicated mathematical functions that cannot be broken even with the help of a quantum computer.

Approaches for quantum-secure data transmission already exist. These include quantum random number generation (QRNG). Instead of algorithmic processes, they use the inherent unpredictability of quantum behavior to generate completely unpredictable random numbers for cryptographic keys. Another approach is quantum key distribution (QKD), based on single photon sources and detectors. Both methods are regarded in the industry as a bridging technology to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and to an entanglement-based quantum internet of the future.