Slovakia enters the quantum age

Ensuring information and communication security is one of the key tasks for the smooth running of the state in the modern society. A country is only safe if it is able to effectively protect information at the level of state institutions and its security forces, the healthcare system, financial institutions, air traffic control, energy production and distribution or the transport system and logistics. The European project Slovak Quantum Communication Infrastructure (skQCI) started in Slovakia in January and its main goal is to build a quantum communication infrastructure that will connect 12 Slovak academic institutions from Bratislava to Košice. In addition, it will create prerequisites for connection with neighboring countries, or for quantum transfer of encryption keys using satellites. The main coordinator of the project is the Institute of Physics SAS which plans to build the southern and northern branches of the Slovak quantum communication layer in the next three years.

Until now, information security was guaranteed by the mathematical complexity of the encryption itself and the secure transfer of encryption keys. With the advent of quantum computers with sufficient performance possible to break encryption keys, it is necessary to find new ways of transmitting information that will be resistant to cyber attacks. The solution to this problem is the transfer of encryption keys using quantum technologies.

“These technologies are based on the laws of quantum physics and the properties of physical systems, such as quantum entanglement, which finds application in the construction of quantum computers, as well as in the secure transfer of encryption keys,” explains prof. Vladimír Bužek, founder of the Research Center for Quantum Information at Institute of Physics SAS.

Quantum key transfer requires development of a very specific quantum communication infrastructure, which was undertaken by EU member states as part of the EuroQCI initiative. Slovakia decided to join this initiative by building its quantum communication infrastructure. During its construction, many years of experience from quantum information research in Slovakia, the recent quantum transfer of encryption keys between Vienna and Bratislava (financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic), as well as cooperation with many European research institutions, will be used.

Funding for the skQCI project itself was obtained by Slovakia from the Digital Europe program, which was launched by the European Commission at the end of 2021. The goal of the project is to build part of the supporting Slovak quantum communication layer of the future European quantum internet. “This project is part of the innovative part of the Recovery Plan under the patronage of the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, which co-finances the quantum infrastructures as part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan,” emphasizes the temporarily appointed Minister Veronika Remišová. The uniqueness of the proposed approach is also the creation of its own experimental-technological expertise in the field of quantum technologies in the direct involvement of Slovak scientific teams, students and innovative companies.

“The success of the skQCI project is particularly significant in terms of the contribution of top Slovak scientists to IT security in a regional but also a global context. Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic positively perceive the fact that the project also provides an opportunity for education and development of highly qualified experts in the field of quantum technologies at the world level,” says Michal Fedák, State Secretary for science, research and higher education.

The primary use of the Slovak quantum communication layer is the fundamentally unbreakable security of data and communication.

“In addition to this security, the added value of our solution is also creation of an experimental quantum communication network, which will also enable communication of quantum computers via teleportation communication channels. Thanks to support from the DIGITAL program and the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the skQCI project brought together unique expertise of teams from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of the Comenius University in Bratislava, the Institute of Electrical Engineering SAS, Institute of Experimental Physics SAS and the International Laser Center of SCSTI with the goal of creating a prototype of a highly efficient photon detector, which will be tested in the created communication infrastructure with a wide range of uses, basically in every field of quantum technologies,” says Mário Ziman, director of Institute of Physics SAS.

Original text: SAS News