Quantum Communications Center

The CNR-INO Quantum Communications Center is located on the Arcetri hill, close to the city center of the beautiful city of Florence.

Our research aims to address the practical challenges of quantum communication towards its full integration in the already existing networks. With the increasing amount of sensitive data and confidential information that are continuously transmitted around the globe, the security of communications is becoming more and more important. Quantum communications techniques such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) provide the unmatched benefit of not being affected even by the future advances in both classical and quantum computing attacks!

Besides crucial to guarantee information security, quantum communications, will be important for the future quantum networks, where emerging quantum devices, like quantum-enhanced sensors, quantum simulators, and powerful quantum computers, will be linked together through optical fiber networks and free-space links. In this framework, we aim to develop non-classical light sources to implement quantum information protocols. To move steps in this direction, we are studying efficient and telecom-compatible sources of entangled states. We are also aiming to generate entangled states able to be efficiently manipulated and mapped into a quantum memory: a milestone for quantum repeaters and long-distance quantum communications.