Grant: Alliance Grants

Quantum science and technology present remarkable opportunities for a new generation of communications, computation, and sensing. At the core of this new paradigm is entanglement, a delicate property of quantum systems that gives these approaches their unique abilities to facilitate complex computations or ensure secure communications. By creating and extending entanglement over distances large and small, a quantum internet becomes possible, expanding the reach of this technology in the same way the current internet enhances the capacity for classical computing. ARAQNE, the Alliance for Research and Applications of Quantum Network Entanglement, will advance and translate quantum networking to the level of commercial usefulness, by connecting the expertise that links Canada's leaders in quantum networking from academia and industry. ARAQNE brings together researchers and practitioners to focus on outstanding issues in ground-based quantum networking, culminating in testbed demonstrations using the real-world, deployed fiber optic network of partners TELUS and the City of Calgary. The consortium will investigate and develop the protocols and platforms compatible with two use-cases of the quantum internet, both with significant potential impacts: distributed quantum computing and secure quantum communications, which are at the focus of operations for partners Entangled Networks and Quantum Bridge Technologies, respectively. Working in partnership, ARAQNE will establish Canada as a leader in ground-based quantum networking, establish domestic capacity for the technologies needed to build Canada's quantum network, and train a generation of researchers who will be the ones to make the quantum internet a reality for Canadians, as they found the companies and work with industry to extend a web of quantum entanglement from sea to sea to sea.