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Scalable photonic quantum technologies
Hui Wang1,2,3, Timothy C Ralph4, Jelmer J Renema5
1Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Nature Materials
|August 15, 2025
Summary
Photonic quantum technologies are advancing towards practical applications, leveraging quantum optics for enhanced communication, computation, and metrology. This review covers key components, experimental progress, and future directions for scalable quantum systems.
Area of Science:
- Quantum Optics and Photonics
- Quantum Information Science
Background:
- Photonic quantum technologies are transitioning from basic research to practical applications.
- Quantum advantage is being realized in communications, computation, and metrology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in quantum optics enabling scalable photonic quantum technologies.
- To outline future applications and challenges in photonic quantum systems.
Main Methods:
- Focus on essential components: quantum light sources, linear-optical networks, and detectors.
- Discussion of experimental demonstrations in quantum communication, computation, simulation, and metrology.
- Overview of photonics' role in quantum internet, universal quantum computing, and precision measurement.
Main Results:
- Emergence of scalable quantum technologies driven by advances in quantum optics.
- Demonstrated progress in quantum communication, computation, and metrology using photons.
- Identification of opportunities and challenges for space-to-ground quantum internet and universal quantum computing.
Conclusions:
- Photonic quantum technologies are poised for significant impact across various fields.
- Continued development of components and systems is crucial for realizing full quantum advantage.
- Photons play a vital role in the future of quantum networks and advanced sensing.
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