Tucson Standard

The University of Arizona Center for Quantum Networks is taking a lead role in a new international research and development partnership that will investigate new technologies that can form the basis of quantum internet.

The partnership will have research centers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, according to a press release from the university. The partnership is made possible by a combined $3 million investment from the National Science Foundation, Science Foundation Ireland and the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy.

The partnership, called CoQREATE (Convergent Quantum Research Alliance in Telecommunications), will investigate and develop technology providing “connectivity between quantum computers over short and long distances,” the release stated.

'"Because they compute using qubits, networking quantum computers will require fundamentally new communications infrastructure that is capable (of) transmitting packets of qubits reliably and fast over long distances, while relying on the classical internet for some of their functions," Saikat Guha, a professor in the UA James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences and director of the Center for Quantum Networks, said in the release.

Improvements in reliability and security, possible with quantum computers, will be crucial to the future of information technology, experts said.

"First, it will enable physics-based communications security and privacy guarantees in multi-party transactions that cannot be compromised by any amount of computational power," Guha said. "Second, it will create a global network of quantum computers, processors and sensors that are fundamentally more powerful than today's technology. This will bring unprecedented advances in distributed computing and powerful long-baseline telescope systems and enable secure access to quantum computers for the public."

Equality will also be explored as part of the project, Guha said.

"In addition to the technology aspect, the CoQREATE partnership will include research on socio-technical convergence to bring a broader social perspective to the program," Guha said. "This research will focus on societal impacts of quantum internet-enabled technologies surrounding privacy and security, unintended implicit biases embedded in the technology, equitable access and education."