Advanced Quantum Communication and Quantum Networks -- From basic research to future applications

TL;DR

This paper reviews the fundamental concepts, current state, and future potential of quantum communication networks, highlighting their advantages over classical systems in security, measurement, and computation.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive overview of quantum information networks, including interfaces, transmission methods, and future applications, serving as a foundational resource for quantum internet research.

Findings

Quantum networks enable secure communication and precise measurements.

Physical implementations of quantum information transmission are evolving.

Quantum internet has promising future applications in various fields.

Abstract

Classical communication is the basis for many of our current and future technologies, such as mobile phones, video conferences, autonomous vehicles and particularly the internet. In contrast, quantum communication is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Due to this fundamental difference, it might offer enormous benefits for security applications, more precise measurements, faster computations, and many other fields of application by interconnecting different quantum devices, such as quantum sensors, quantum computers, or quantum memories. This review provides an overview of the specific properties of quantum information networks. This includes the interfaces between the classical and the quantum regime, the transmission of the quantum information by physical implementations, and potential future applications of quantum networks. We aim to provide a starting point based on fundamental concepts of quantum information processing for further research on a future quantum internet.