Networking firm Qunnect has received two Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) grants from the US Department of Energy (DOE).
Worth up to $1.85 million, the awards will augment the development and commercialization of Qunnect's Quantum Repeater.
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The product suite will serve as the foundation for Quantum Internet by offering support for quantum-secure communication protocols. Late last year, Qunnect introduced one of the two key components of the suite, the world's first commercial quantum memory.
Per reports, the USDOE’s awards will support the commercialization of the second essential device, touted to be a source, for generating entangled photon pairs for quantum-secure communication protocols. The grants will also contribute to research into a second type of quantum memory.
“Unlike other commercially available entanglement sources, Qunnect's source produces a pair of photons where one possesses a standard telecommunications frequency for fiber transmission, and the other is tuned for optimal storage in the quantum memory,” explained Qunnect.
“This innovation eliminates the need for a separate frequency converter device within the network, a significant feat, as the majority of quantum systems are not native to telecommunications frequencies.”
Among the other products in development are a network protocol orchestrator, an ultra-stable frequency reference, a real-time fiber channel calibrator, and a measurement station to perform the entanglement distribution transactions.
"We are grateful to the Department of Energy for their continued support of the company's mission to develop Quantum Repeater product suite. Both our Quantum Memory and Entanglement Source are first-in-class devices. It is extremely exciting to see them transition from benchtop experiments to commercial products, " commented Noel Goddard, Qunnect CEO.
