LuxQuanta Technologies SL is a technology company that was established on May 13, 2021 as a spin-off of the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) located in Castelldefels, Barcelona. LuxQuanta's mission is to research, develop and commercialize quantum communication technologies for data security in optical communications. The ICFO is an institute of international prestige that is dedicated to research in optical sciences and technologies and properties of light. LuxQuanta's technology is based on the research of ICFO's Optoelectronics group, which has been conducting research in this area for more than five years in various European and local initiatives. LuxQuanta is currently focused on developing quantum technology called “Quantum Key Distribution” (QKD), which uses photons to establish super-secure cryptographic keys between two points. These keys are used to encrypt messages and guarantee the privacy of information transmitted in telecommunications networks.
From 2022, he develops the Industrial Doctorate project on quantum distribution of cryptographic keys for long communication distances. Last February 25, La Vanguardia reported on the technology that the company has put on the market in order to advance super-secure communications. You can read below an excerpt of the news or read the original news at this link .
From science to the market: secure communications thanks to quantum
Paving the way, in a new era, to hypersecure communications. This is the ambitious objective 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 spin-off company from the Instituto de Ciencias Fótonicas (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 fiber optic networks already deployed.
LuxQuanta was the 10th ICFO 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 more quickly through specialized companies ”, explains Vanesa Díaz, CEO of LuxQuanta.
Didactically, to explain the work of his company, Díaz recalls that currently all communications are encrypted, that is to say, "before transmitting a message, it is broken as if it 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 in the future much greater calculation capacity, can endanger 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 CEO of the company. The first product in this range is the Nova LQ system that LuxQuanta is now starting to market and which guarantees that any attempt by an intruder to observe the quantum channel information 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 telecommunications industry with extensive experience in the market, combined and controlled by powerful electronics and software developed by LuxQuanta's R&D team. This advance in the CV-QKD allows an easier installation in optical networks already deployed, compared to the systems commercialized to date. The Nova LQ system is aimed especially at telecommunications operators, companies dedicated to cyber security and governmental, financial or health entities, explains Vanesa Díaz.
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