Qunnect launches US open-access quantum network in New Mexico

Qunnect’s Open‑Access Quantum Network in New Mexico

Qunnect has rolled out AB Q‑Net, the first open‑access quantum network in the United States, linking its Albuquerque facilities to Sandia National Laboratories via a 25‑kilometer fiber link. The company released performance data showing more than 210 000 entangled photon pairs per second for 90 % of a continuous 48‑hour run, along with CHSH Bell‑inequality values between 2.50 and 2.62 over a 24‑hour period. These numbers exceed the classical limit (2.0) and illustrate that the network can maintain quantum correlations over a practical distance.

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Sustained Entanglement Performance

• Entanglement rate: >210 k pairs s⁻¹ for most of a 48‑hour window.
• Bell‑test results: CHSH values 2.50‑2.62 over 24 h, confirming non‑classical correlations.
• Quantum bit error rate (QBER): 9 %‑13 % across the central 80 % of the run, providing a realistic error profile for users.
• Fiber link: Six parallel 25‑km strands, fully characterized for loss in O‑ and C‑bands, polarization drift, and propagation‑time drift.

The data give prospective users a clear baseline for evaluating their own hardware on a live, fully characterized infrastructure.

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Automated Polarization Stabilization

Qunnect’s Carina hardware tackles one of the biggest practical hurdles—polarization drift caused by temperature swings and wind on aerial fiber. Carina continuously measures and compensates for drift in real time, keeping the entangled state stable without manual intervention. This automation lets external teams plug in compatible sources and detectors without building a bespoke stabilization system, dramatically lowering the barrier to entry for quantum‑network experiments.

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Open‑Access Model and Early adopters

AB Q‑Net is positioned as a shared platform for government, academia, and industry. Early participants include:

• Infleqtion – testing photonic‑chip sources.
• Tensora – evaluating quantum‑memory modules.
• Bandelier Technologies – running entanglement‑based key‑distribution trials.
• Aliro – benchmarking quantum‑software stacks.

By providing a common, well‑characterized testbed, Qunnect hopes to accelerate validation cycles, reduce duplication of effort, and foster collaboration across the emerging quantum‑network ecosystem.

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Practical Takeaways for Researchers and Developers

1. Benchmarking Made Easy – The published loss and drift metrics let users predict how their devices will perform before integration.
2. Real‑World Conditions – The network runs on aerial fiber exposed to weather, offering a more realistic environment than laboratory‑only setups.
3. Scalable Access – Qualified teams can request time slots, enabling iterative testing without the overhead of building a dedicated link.
4. Data Transparency – Qunnect’s release of raw performance numbers encourages independent analysis and helps set community standards for quantum‑network reporting.

For teams looking to validate entanglement distribution, quantum‑key‑distribution protocols, or quantum‑memory interfaces, AB Q‑Net provides a ready‑made, reproducible platform that bridges the gap between proof‑of‑concept labs and field‑ready deployments.

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Bottom line: Qunnect’s AB Q‑Net demonstrates that sustained, high‑rate entanglement over metropolitan‑scale fiber is achievable in a publicly accessible setting, offering a valuable resource for the next wave of quantum‑network research and development.