Published: | By: Judith Kießling, Messe Erfurt GmbH
The Quantum Photonics trade event took place for the first time at Messe Erfurt from May 13 to 14, 2025. As a congress trade fair, there was not only a trade exhibition, but also a high-level congress program with experts from the active field of quantum photonics. A total of around 500 trade visitors attended the event, ensuring excellent discussions at the exhibition stands.
Photonic quantum technologies are regarded as a key technology for the world of tomorrow - for example for quantum cryptography, instrumental measurement technology and quantum computing. “Quantum technology systems and photonics are currently opening up revolutionary innovation potential in applied research and increasingly also in industrial applications,” emphasized Michael Kynast, Managing Director of Messe Erfurt GmbH, at the opening of the specialist congress. Due to this great importance, the new “Quantum Photonics” trade fair aimed to bring together the key players in the field of quantum photonics over the two days of the trade fair and get them talking to each other. The Thüringer Aufbaubank was the sponsor and supporter of the congress.
In his welcoming address, Mario Suckert, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Areas of the Free State of Thuringia, emphasized the outstanding position of Thuringia as a location for quantum technologies: “State-of-the-art optics research and industry not only have a long history in the Free State, but Thuringia has also become an internationally visible location for photonics.” Not least thanks to public funding, an innovation ecosystem has emerged in recent years that trains highly qualified specialists, facilitates international cooperation and provides a distinctive research infrastructure with highly visible flagship projects. “This structure-building policy of the Free State has been successful so far and will continue to be so,” Suckert was convinced. "In this light, Thuringia offers a natural habitat for an event like Quantum Photonics.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Tünnermann, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Institute for Applied Physics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, also mentioned that Thuringia is the cradle of modern optics. Global companies such as Zeiss and Schott have laid the foundations of the photonics industry. “Today, photonics is a key technology that is used in areas such as information technology, medical physics and manufacturing and drives basic research in astrophysics, gravitational wave astronomy and climate physics,” says Tünnermann. Around 180 companies with a total of around 18,000 employees are based in the region. “With this conference, we want to build bridges between the photonics and quantum communities and promote closer cooperation between these fields in order to unlock the benefits of quantum physics for important areas of our society.”
Dr. Christian Helgert at the Lichtwerkstatt Makerspace booth during the Quantum Photonics Fair 2025.
Image: Karina Heßland-Wissel, Messe Erfurt GmbHAt the same time, well-known companies presented their innovative products at the trade exhibition, where they were able to talk to their users as well as representatives of the other exhibitors. Among the exhibitors was the international company Hamamatsu Photonics, which develops light-related technologies and has a total of 14,000 products in its portfolio. Its core business is highly sensitive photodetectors, which are installed in the detectors of the Large Hadron Collider or in the Kamiokande experiment, among others. Quantum physics is also about registering very weak light intensities, which is why Hamamatsu was represented at Quantum Photonics. “We are showing the detectors here that are specialized in distinguishing individual photons from each other.”
X-Fab is a semiconductor manufacturer with headquarters in Erfurt and other locations in Texas (USA), France and Malaysia. Among other things, X-Fab offers silicon-based photonics and specializes in micro-transfer printing - a stamping technology that allows chiplets to be removed from a wafer and integrated into photonic platforms. Applications can be found in data communication or sensor applications. “As a local player, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to be part of this new trade fair,” emphasizes Dr. Tino Jäger from X-Fab.
Lasos Lasertechnik GmbH presented a colorful range of lasers. The laser manufacturer from Jena offers various solid-state lasers that are also interesting for quantum applications, for example to generate quantum pairs. The field of quantum photonics is still so young and dynamic that it is not yet possible to predict where it will develop. “But we want to be involved right from the start,” confirmed the Lasos company representative.
As a partner of the new trade fair, the Fraunhofer IOF was also represented with a large stand and various exhibits, for example from the field of quantum computing. In recent years, Fraunhofer IOF has also been represented at rapid.tech 3D, the leading trade fair for the additive manufacturing industry, which takes place at the same time. The aim at Quantum Photonics is now to network with other players and also to get to know new partners from the QuNet initiative.
By the end of the first day of the trade fair, the exhibitors were already very satisfied with the discussions. On site were Lasos Lasertechnik GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS Deutschland GmbH, fiberware, AIM Micro Systems GmbH, nanoplus Nanosystems and Technologies GmbH, Abbe Center of Photonics, QuNET-Initiative, CiS Forschungsinstitut für Mikrosensorik GmbH, SmarAct GmbH, X-Fab Global Services GmbH, Quantum Optics Jena GmbH, LAYERTEC GmbH, Thüringer Aufbaubank, EIN Quantum NRW c/o NMWP Management GmbH and NEXT robotics GmbH & Co. KG.
Quantum Education and Outreach booth presenting joint results of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung for Quantum Photonics and the Thuringian Innovation Center InQuoSens.
Image: Dr. Christian HelgertFour socially relevant areas were therefore the focus of the top-class congress program. Professor Jaw-Shen Tsai from Tokyo University of Science gave the cross-thematic introduction on “Superconducting Kerr Parameter Oscillators Based on the Bosonic Qubit - A Practical Platform for Quantum Information Processing”. He gave an impressive introduction to the development of superconducting systems, in which he traced his own research program over the last almost three decades, but also discussed his current work. The topic of “Quantum for Cyber Security” then formed the first technical focus.
First, Dr. Oliver Muth gave an insight into the use of quantum technologies at Bundesdruckerei with the aim of making our data secure, both now and in the future. For example, Bundesdruckerei is involved in various initiatives, such as Qu-Gov, to build up expertise in the areas of security, quantum analytics and quantum sovereignty. “Quantum computers will influence our security, and we need to prepare for this,” he emphasized. Data and identities must also remain protected in the post-quantum age. For example, he presented a demonstration of an electronic passport with PQC (post-quantum cryptography) protection.
A literally key element for cyber security is quantum key distribution (QKD), which requires specialized hardware such as single photon sources and detectors. The status of QKD testbeds in Thuringia, Germany and Europe was presented by Prof. Dr. Thomas Hühn from Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, who is leading the German contribution to the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure initiative. Together with his team, he is planning and researching QKD systems for single photons and entangled photon pairs and aims to integrate these systems into existing networks. In his presentation, he discussed the implementation of a secure connection between data centers in Frankfurt and Berlin and between Berlin and Munich, as well as the use of QKD for telemedicine. Prof. Dr. Christoph Marquardt from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light also addressed the topic of quantum-safe networks.
Dr. Thomas Lebeth from dacoso GmbH, an IT service provider for networks and data security, gave a powerful presentation on the question of how quantum technologies are redefining data security. He emphasized that quantum computers open up great opportunities to address previously unsolved problems, but that they also pose a threat to existing security concepts. “Wherever data will still be relevant in five or more years' time, cause financial damage, threaten human lives or restrict government interests, solutions must be designed to be quantum-safe today,” he concluded.
On the first day of the congress, the QuNet initiative was an important focus topic on the Panel Stage, which was presented in various shorter talks. This is a national initiative for IT security using quantum key distribution (QKD), which was launched in 2019 with five partners and is funded by the BMBF. The five core institutes are the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI, the DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation, the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen. The aim is to create the basis for secure and robust IT networks that are already armed against the cyber attacks of tomorrow. There are now 47 partners in the network, as Prof. Dr. Fabian Steinlechner from Fraunhofer IOF explained in his overview of the QuNet initiative.
One of the aims of the initiative is to develop realistic application scenarios with a focus on government communication, to facilitate the transfer to industry and to prepare for the certification of QKD technology. In the first phase, a quantum key exchange was successfully demonstrated in Bonn in order to carry out secure video conferences, for example.
The importance of certifying QKD networks was also emphasized by Clemens Epple and Dr. Maja Kierdorf from BWI GmbH, the Bundeswehr's IT system service provider. Among other things, BWI GmbH manages the Germany-wide fiber optic network for the Bundeswehr. “This makes us one of the end users of quantum key distribution, or at least we hope to be in the future,” says Maja Kierdorf. Quantum-secure solutions are possible in two ways - post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is the software solution and quantum key distribution (QKD) is the hardware solution. PQC offers security through new mathematical algorithms and has already arrived in practice, but cryptanalysis could develop further. QKD is therefore promising, even if it requires new hardware, is not yet fully developed and authentication and signature processes are still lacking.
In a QKD roadmap, Maja Kierdorf showed where QKD currently stands and what the goal is for the next ten years and beyond. She used an example to illustrate what it means in practice to implement QKD in a real fiber optic network. It became clear: There are still numerous challenges to be solved, but it has to be done now because quantum computing is developing rapidly.
In addition to quantum technologies, artificial intelligence is also a highly topical subject. On the afternoon of the first day, the focus was on how the two can cross-fertilize each other. Dr. Mario Krenn from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light shed light on the path to an “artificial muse” for new ideas in physics. Based on a large database of scientific publications, the AI found better and completely new designs for a gravitational wave detector, for example. “We don't yet understand how the machine comes up with these solutions,” says Krenn. “But there must be an interesting physical effect behind such novel solutions!”
Dr. Jan-Rainer Lahmann from IBM gave an overview of the state of quantum computing and the path to the “Quantum Advantage”. According to the IBM roadmap, such a quantum advantage could be demonstrated in the coming year, i.e. an advantage over classical computing for a relevant problem - but probably still for a problem from science, not from industry, Lahmann qualified. The potential applications of quantum computing are broad and include material development, research into new medicines, the transformation of the power grid and the optimization of trade routes.
Dr. Florentin Reiter from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF focused on machine learning in his presentation “From Quantum Computers to Higgs Bosons and back”. He and his team use this to characterize and understand quantum computing platforms. He explained the progress made in learning models for the latest quantum hardware and identified practical use cases. Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert from the FU Berlin brought the afternoon to a witty close with his presentation “Quo vadis, quantum machine learning”, in which he first stated that artificial intelligence is already omnipresent and then explored the question of whether quantum computers can help with meaningful machine learning tasks. His clear answer: “Definitely maybe!”
On the second day of the conference, the topics “Quantum for Instrumentation and Measurement” and “Quantum for Mobility” were on the agenda. Experts from institutions such as the Fraunhofer IOF, X-Fab, Noisy Labs, the Hasso Plattner Institute, CiS and Elmos Semiconductor SE attracted numerous trade fair visitors to the Dome for their presentations. In the first keynote, Dr. Sebastian Schmitt from Fraunhofer IOF outlined the challenges and market potential of quantum optics on a chip scale. The second keynote of the day was given by Prof. Dr. Andreas Polze from the Hasso Plattner Institute with a presentation on “SQuIRRL - Secure Quantum Infrastructure for Road, Rail and Flight”.