Scalable photonic quantum technologies

Hui Wang^#^{1

2

3}, Timothy C Ralph^#⁴, Jelmer J Renema⁵, Chao-Yang Lu^{6

7

8

9}, Jian-Wei Pan^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
² CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
³ Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁴ Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Adaptive Quantum Optics Group, Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
⁶ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁸ Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁹ New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Shenzhen, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.
¹¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.
¹² Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40813916
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02306-7

Review

Scalable photonic quantum technologies

Hui Wang et al. Nat Mater. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 14.

doi: 10.1038/s41563-025-02306-7. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Hui Wang^#^{1

2

3}, Timothy C Ralph^#⁴, Jelmer J Renema⁵, Chao-Yang Lu^{6

7

8

9}, Jian-Wei Pan^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
² CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
³ Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁴ Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Adaptive Quantum Optics Group, Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
⁶ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁸ Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁹ New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Shenzhen, China. cylu@ustc.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.
¹¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.
¹² Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. pan@ustc.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40813916
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02306-7

Abstract

Photonic quantum technologies are now progressing from demonstrations of fundamental phenomena to systems of sufficient scale and quality to enable practical applications with quantum advantage in communications, computation and metrology. Here we review recent advances in quantum optics that have led to the emergence of such scalable quantum technologies, and outline the road ahead to more general applications with greater potential impact. We first focus on the components that support various photonic quantum applications, including quantum light sources, linear-optical networks and detectors. We go on to discuss recent experimental demonstrations of quantum communication, quantum computation and simulation, and quantum metrology using photons. Finally, an overview is provided on the manner in which photons fit within both the opportunities and challenges of implementing space-to-ground quantum internet, universal quantum computing and quantum precision measurement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Dowling, J. P. & Milburn, G. J. Quantum technology: the second quantum revolution. Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 361, 1655–1674 (2003). - PubMed
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Scalable photonic quantum technologies

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Scalable photonic quantum technologies

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