skQCI DIGITAL-2021-QCI-01 No. 101091548

Title: Slovak Quantum Communication Infrastructure
Duration: 01/01/2023 - 30/06/2025
Coordinator: Dr. Djeylan Aktas
Budget: 7 207 283.53 eur (Total budget 9 999 801.63 eur)

Project Goals: This project is a continuation of the effort started with the collaboration between Vienna, Austria (IQOQI) and Bratislava, Slovakia (IP SAS) quantum information research groups which produced the first international QKD link between the two countries in an effort to start realising the Quapital consortium’s (https://quapital.eu) vision for a quantum network. The goal is to use the same hardware and technology for the implementation of various entanglement-based QKD protocols in order to populate, in this first phase, 6 nodes across Slovakia, thus creating the backbone of a national quantum network. The chosen approach will not only meet the criteria of this call for connecting several European cities with QKD links but will also lay the foundation for the next steps in achieving a quantum internet that goes beyond simple cryptographic tasks, providing us with the opportunity to consider other quantum communication protocols in the future. The objective of building this infrastructure within the duration of this project will also be accompanied by the development of our own superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and cryogenic systems which will help accommodate the needs of a growing quantum network beyond the timeline of this funded research. Such R&D may have lesser funding opportunities in the second phase of EuroQCI or that later phase may simply be more focused on the upper layers of the quantum network infrastructure. The present project is enabling Slovakia to actively participate in the EuroQCI European mission by developing quantum communication technologies and helping to establish a training research centre that will be beneficial for the whole Central-European territory, creating a sustainable knowledge-based ecosystem for future quantum engineers.

Project website: https://skqci.qute.sk/