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Towards a global quantum network

Nature Photonics volume 11, pages 678–680 (2017)Cite this article

The creation of a global quantum network is now a realistic proposition thanks to developments in satellite and fibre links and quantum memory. Applications will range from secure communication and fundamental physics experiments to a future quantum internet.

The realization of a truly global quantum network would represent an impressive feat of science and technology that enables the distribution of quantum states and quantum entanglement between any two points on Earth’s surface. Such a network would have many applications, the most well-known being quantum key distribution, a cryptography scheme that promises communication with security that is guaranteed by the laws of physics. Such a network would also support other quantum cryptographic paradigms such as blind quantum computing1, which allows a user to perform calculations on a quantum computer without the computer finding out what calculation is being performed, and private database queries2.

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Fig. 1: Quantum repeater architecture with satellite links.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Quantum Science and Technology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Christoph Simon

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  1. Christoph Simon
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Simon, C. Towards a global quantum network. Nature Photon 11, 678–680 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-017-0032-0

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