Towards a quantum leap in the decentralized era of digital societies

The arrival of digital transformation through the first quantum revolution after the middle of the last century had been pushed through the waves of low-cost consumer electronics as well cloud infrastructure which offer the opportunity to equally access the digital era. Opening the door to the second Quantum revolution, the equal access to the quantum resources – driven from the Quantum Computer (QC) – should be guaranteed in order to keep up the equal, fair and interception-free use of the centralized QC resources after their practical deployment.

Enabling secured quantum microgrids through classical/QKD network segments:
UNIQORN promises to offer affordable QKD solutions based on PIC technologies allowing for low-cost QKD interfaces as well to integrate this technology in classical networking segments. Researchers at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) aim to design and propose solutions for practical deployment of the above solutions within the installed optical layer infrastructure of digital communication era. Our vision is to contribute towards the design of quantum community microgrids, where our neighborhoods, villages, towns and cities can build upon the installed fiber infrastructure layer their way to communicate securely by exchanging quantum states of light (e.g. single photons). Entering the phase of optical infrastructure upgrade in order to satisfy the needs of  FTTx, 5G and Edge Cloud segments, it’s the best time to start thinking the mission of shared classical and quantum network deployment. This will be the key to spread the unique benefits and opportunities across the digital societies, assuring also that no one will be left behind through this quantum leap!