CERN, the scientific research organization behind the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, has opened a quantum networking lab.

At an event celebrating the lab’s launch, CERN teamed with Dutch quantum optical systems developer Single Quantum and Brooklyn-based quantum hardware firm Qunnect to explore technologies capable of connecting and securing nuclear energy grids and facilities.

The trio is exploring metrology schemes, time-synced entanglement tests, and the co-propagation of classical and quantum channels in installed fiber at the CERN campus. In non-quantum perplexing parlance, CERN, Qunnect, and Single Quantum are working together to see how to send both regular data and quantum signals through the same optical fibers without interference.

While connecting nuclear facilities is the mainline goal, the scientists ultimate dream is to create a “quantum internet” – with the trio testing communications infrastructure with the hopes of building an open platform to accelerate quantum research.

The location of the tests is significant – it’s the same site where the White Rabbit open-source Ethernet-based network technology was created by CERN scientists. White Rabbit supports sub-nanosecond time synchronization and deterministic data transfers across distributed devices. CERN created the tech to support its particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider.

“This partnership with CERN, Single Quantum, and Qunnect will advance quantum networking at the birthplace of White Rabbit technology,” Qunnect CTO Mael Flament explained. “In fact, Qunnect exists to usher quantum entanglement out of the lab and into standard telecom infrastructure, providing partners and customers with field-deployable products that are built for real-world innovation.”

The CERN project is the latest in a growing number of quantum network projects.

Earlier this month, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia developed a method to integrate quantum technology into traditional networks. Their Q-chip allows quantum information to be transmitted over regular fiber-optic cables alongside classical internet traffic.

In July, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) engineers also came up with a method to integrate quantum links into classical network infrastructure. While a similar project was completed by researchers at the University of British Columbia earlier this summer, who created a “universal translator” for quantum computers, allowing disparate systems to communicate over a network with virtually no noise.