On the Way to the first usable Quan­tum Net­works

For years, rese­ar­chers world­wi­de have been working on the deve­lo­p­ment of Quan­tum Net­works. In recent years, the focus has shifted from indi­vi­du­al links to sys­tems capa­ble of dis­tri­bu­ting Quan­tum Ent­an­gle­ment relia­bly, with useful trans­mis­si­on rates, and over long distances. An inter­view with Prof. Dr. Ronald Han­son on the cur­rent sta­te of Quan­tum Net­work Deve­lo­p­ment and the chal­lenges on the path toward prac­ti­cal appli­ca­ti­ons was published in the June issue of Optics & Pho­to­nics News and is available through the publication’s paid sub­scrip­ti­on ser­vice. Han­son is a pro­fes­sor at Delft Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­no­lo­gy (TU Delft) and co-foun­der of Delft Net­works, a com­pa­ny deve­lo­ping hard­ware and soft­ware for Quan­tum Net­works with the aim of dis­tri­bu­ting ent­an­gle­ment over long distances. In the inter­view, he pro­vi­des insights into cur­rent chal­lenges and deve­lo­p­ments in this field and dis­cus­ses what pro­gress can be expec­ted in the coming years.

A key chall­enge towards usable Quan­tum Net­works is the relia­ble dis­tri­bu­ti­on and sto­rage of Quan­tum Ent­an­gle­ment over lar­ge distances. This requi­res dif­fe­rent tech­no­lo­gi­cal com­pon­ents – from the gene­ra­ti­on and trans­mis­si­on of Quan­tum Sta­tes to the inte­gra­ti­on of sui­ta­ble sto­rage and net­work ele­ments – to work tog­e­ther effi­ci­ent­ly. Ronald Han­son empha­si­zes the importance of sca­lable tech­no­lo­gies and advan­ces in pho­to­nic inte­gra­ti­on. In his view, Quan­tum Repea­ters will also play an important long-term role in exten­ding the reach of future Quan­tum Net­works. Howe­ver, initi­al prac­ti­cal appli­ca­ti­ons could emer­ge befo­re ful­ly deve­lo­ped Quan­tum Repea­ters beco­me available. Accor­ding to Han­son, urban Quan­tum Net­works in par­ti­cu­lar could repre­sent an important step towards more powerful Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sys­tems. Click here for the inter­view.

Source refe­rence: https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/volume_37/june_2026/departments/building_the_first_useful_quantum_networks/