Paving the way, in a new era, to hypersecure communications. This is the ambitious goal of LuxQuanta with the market launch, this February, of its first product, Nova LQ, a device that encrypts data using properties of quantum physics. LuxQuanta, a company that emerged (spin-off) from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (Icfo), applies in this new system an advanced variant of quantum cryptography known by experts as CV-QKD (continuous variable quantum cryptography system) that offers new security features –such as the detection of possible intruders– and it is easy to install in already deployed fiber optic networks.
“LuxQuanta was ICFO’s 10th spin-off and, as in other cases, it is the result of the basic research work of several of its experts and the conviction that some of these ideas can reach the market faster through companies specialists”, explains Vanesa Díaz, CEO of LuxQuanta.
In a didactic way, to explain the work of his company, Díaz recalls that currently all communications are encrypted, that is, “before transmitting a message, it is broken as if they were pieces of a puzzle; and this encryption or encryption is done with a certain criterion, which is a kind of key that only the sender and the receiver know and can use”.
This mechanism currently offers relatively high levels of security. However, recalls Díaz, the appearance of quantum computers, which have or will have much greater computing capacity in the future, may jeopardize the security of current encryption or encryption.
LuxQuanta offers a solution to this problem and “creates keys that use quantum physics to establish super-secure communication channels,” says the company’s CEO. The first product in this range is the Nova LQ system that is now being marketed by LuxQuanta and that guarantees that any attempt by an intruder to observe the information of the quantum channel will leave a trace that can be detected by the receiver.
Nova LQ is based on CV-QKD technology and is built with components from the telecom industry with extensive market experience, combined and controlled by powerful electronics and software developed by the LuxQuanta R&D team. This advancement in the CV-QKD allows for easier installation in already deployed optical networks, compared to systems marketed to date. The Nova LQ system is aimed especially at telecommunications operators, companies dedicated to cybersecurity and government, financial or health entities, explains Vanesa Díaz.
LuxQuanta “is focused on becoming one of the great European benchmarks in the search for and manufacturing of quantum cryptography systems, not only due to the launch of its first system, Nova LQ, but also due to the clear development direction of its version with integrated photonics. , which will allow an optimization in the scaling of the technology, bringing it even closer to the market”, highlights the company.
Regarding the competition, LuxQuanta is positioned as the only State company dedicated to the development and commercialization of the CV-QKD variant, of which there are only four manufacturers in the world. This framework offers the company an important commercial and technological advantage.