chemical analysis out of the lab TUE puts quantum security to the test

TUE’s testbed centers around the optical fi ber network ring around Eindhoven.

TUE puts quantum security to the test

For ‘classic’ cryptographic standards, there are authorities to certify system security. But where do you go when you’re using quantum cryptography? Eindhoven University of Technology hopes to become the place to be for quantum cryptography certifi cation.

Paul van Gerven

Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) is setting up a security test environment for quantum key distribution (QKD) technology in real-world applications. Along with accelerating the adoption of quantum cryptography, TUE aspires to become a worldwide hub for quantum security validation and certi cation.

In QKD, quantum properties of photons such as polarization state and entanglement are used to create cryptographic keys. ese keys, in turn, are used to establish safe communication channels. QKD’s strength lies in the fact that anyone attempting to eavesdrop on the key will be caught. is is inherent to the quantum nature of the key: quantum mechanics dictates that any measurement to a quantum system disturbs the system. Hence, any attempt by third parties to reveal the key will lead to detectable anomalies.

QKD technology is already quite mature; there are even commercial implementations available. However, there’s no infrastructure available to validate the safety of QKD systems. “For our current cryptographic standards, we have protocols, security and validation tests. ere are even authorities that can certify whether your system is safe. ere’s no such thing for QKD,” says Idelfonso Tafur Monroy, TUE professor at the Electro-Optical Communication group and the Center for Quantum Materials and Technology Eindhoven.

Real attacks

is is where TUE steps in. Tafur Monroy is currently building a testbed to ascertain if a QKD system is viable and secure. “It’s not a lab, it’s not a computer, but it’s the closest thing to real-world deployment, with real nodes, real bers, real systems, and we’re also going to run real attacks to test whether systems are secure.” e rst use case is autonomous driving, which obviously has to deal with major security risks: hackers being able to take control of vehicles is clearly something nobody wants. Latching on to existing research projects in the Eindhoven region, QKD will be introduced to secure communication between the 5G link, the cars and the edge-computing nodes. Tafur Monroy: “We expect to have a fully quantum- secured 5G autonomous driving system by the end of next year.”

All elements of the testbed are connected to each other via the existing optical ber network ring around the city of Eindhoven. is ring also connects the labs on the TUE campus with various test locations in the region, enabling the expansion of the testbed for other applications. Next on the list are robotic communication for industrial inspection and civilian and governmental data in the city of Waalre, near Eindhoven. After that, additional use cases may follow.

Ultimate dream

In parallel, Tafur Monroy will work on miniaturization and cost reduction of QKD components and systems, which will accelerate their adoption. “We have the knowledge and technology in Eindhoven to eventually manufacture QKD in – photonic – chips so that they also t into a mobile phone,” says Tafur Monroy. His ultimate dream is to play a role in the ‘certi cation’ of QKD cybersecurity solutions. “ is would allow people to come to Eindhoven with their chip or QKD product and we can guarantee that it passes the quantum cryptography test.”

Joachim Burghartz is the director of the Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart (IMS Chips) and the former director of Dimes at Delft University of Technology.

Building bridges

We all know the Gartner hype cycle. From the technology trigger by academic research upwards, there are plenty of funding instruments to keep the train moving. In Germany, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) supports fundamental to applied research at universities while the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) brings together industry and academic partners with the aim of transferring research results to applications and economic turnaround – similar to missions of FOM and NWO in the Netherlands.

For mature companies and technologies, there’s support from the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi) and big European programs and projects like Horizon 2020 and ECSEL. Since 2018, the microelectronics industry is funded also through the IPCEI program.

This shows that there’s ample support within the hype cycle up until the peak of inflated expectations and following the plateau of productivity. In between, the trough of disillusionment causes these two phases of innovation transfer to be disconnected. BMBF projects are set up for about three years, which is too short to push innovative ideas out of universities into industrial applications. Companies are expected to move into development and manufacturing when projects end, but that seldom happens. Therefore, a lot of academic value gets stuck.

With that in mind, the BMBF recently introduced the Clusters 4 Future program, which has a scope of three times three years. It consists of three consecutive BMBF projects, with increasing industrial participation of 20, 35 and 50 percent. The aim is to start early and push innovative fundamental research concepts at universities towards industrial products. The Clusters 4 Future seem to be a merger of the concepts of Clusters of Excellence (Bits&Chips column December 2008) and the Research Campus (Bits&Chips column May 2010), in which regional and local clustering of industry and academia was or is supported.

The idea behind Clusters 4 Future is to bridge the hype cycle’s trough of disillusionment. The first round of proposals is in evaluation. Out of 137 submissions, 16 proposals made it to the second round, of which in the end, up to 7 clusters will be funded with up to 45 million euros each, starting in 2021.

One of the finalists is Qsens, focusing on quantum sensing, with partners from the universities of Stuttgart and Ulm, research institutes including IMS Chips, and companies including Bosch and Infineon. There are several keys to success according to the Qsens steering team. It will be important not to oversell the potential of quantum sensing, but instead, ensure proper benchmarking against conventional high-volume sensor products. Quantum sensing approaches that can substitute the conventional ones with better performance but with similar form factor and economics need to be identified. This can, technologically, best be achieved by a step-by-step approach starting from hybrid to micro-hybrid and monolithic integration.

Moreover, one has to deal with strategic issues. The nine-year path is very long for companies, which tend to plan in shorter terms. The Qsens team, therefore, not only proposes typical BMBF projects related to Qsens topics but also universitydriven projects that allow companies to step in at a low budget to ‘look over the fence’ and get acquainted with

A lot of academic value gets stuck

the new topics. Educational training, dissemination of results, open innovation with shared IP and a startup highway are further key elements of the Qsens proposal.

However, the true key to success is that the experts in fundamental science and product engineering will be eager to learn each other’s language and to pull together. Those challenges aren’t new. They’ve been addressed by setting up interdisciplinary research institutes like Dimes at in Delft (now turned into a process facility called Else Kooi Lab), of which many have vanished, mostly due to lack of that kind of respect and willingness to collaborate. It will be interesting to see if and how Qsens and other Clusters 4 Future projects can cope with those different challenges.