The TeQuants project forms part of an ambitious European initiative: to prepare for the advent of quantum telecommunications, a strategic field for communications security and digital sovereignty. Funded by the ESA (European Space Agency) and the European Union, with support from the CNES (French National Centre for Space Studies), TeQuants aims to develop the technological building blocks required to enable ground-to-space optical links capable of reliably transmitting quantum keys (QKD).

This programme brings together around forty major industrial and scientific players, including Airbus, Thales, Safran, OGS Technologies, Reuniwatt, Miratlas and Lumibird. TeQuants is indirectly linked to the CO-OP project, with which it shares several partners and a common vision: to establish a European ecosystem centred on advanced optical technologies.

TeQuants Project Objectives

TeQuants’ main objective is to advance the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of the technologies required for future quantum communications.

This involves:

• • Developing optical and electronic components suited to the constraints of quantum links

• • Strengthening the industrial maturity of European companies

• • Preparing for the integration of these technologies into ground stations (OGS) and on-board terminals

• • Ensuring European sovereignty in a field where international competition is fierce

Quantum telecommunications impose extreme requirements: beam stability, very low optical loss, fine synchronisation, and correction for atmospheric disturbances. This is precisely where adaptive optics (AO) becomes a key element.

Bertin Alpao’s Role in TeQuants

A Targeted Technological Contribution

When the project was launched, Bertin Alpao was tasked with developing technological building blocks designed to improve the performance of adaptive optics (AO), which is essential for compensating for atmospheric turbulence that disrupts ground-to-space optical links.

In the context of quantum telecommunications, AO helps to stabilise the laser beam, increase fibre coupling and reduce intensity fluctuations.

Our contributions focused on several areas:

• Development of a new, faster and more robust wavefront sensor (WFS).
• Studies on loop control to optimise real-time correction.
• Work on the automation and reliability of AO systems.
• Exploration of new approaches to controlling deformable mirrors.
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An innovation resulting from the project: the DM Shaper

One of the key outcomes of our involvement is the development of the DM Shaper, a technological advancement that significantly improves the performance of Alpao’s deformable mirrors.

This breakthrough was not originally planned: it arose from exploratory work on optimising the controller, which ultimately revealed potential for improvement directly in the mirror itself.

The DM Shaper is a dynamic optimisation module designed to increase the speed and responsiveness of deformable mirrors. It enables the full mechanical capabilities of the DM to be utilised without altering its internal architecture. Thanks to an advanced control approach, it drastically reduces settling time – by up to five times – thereby improving the stability and precision of the wavefront in adaptive optics systems.

Designed to be immediately operational, the DM Shaper is a plug-and-play device that is easy to integrate into an existing optical chain.

The DM Shaper is now a notable innovation to emerge from the project, with applications extending well beyond the scope of TeQuants: industrial adaptive optics systems, high-speed optical communication platforms, and environments requiring rapid and robust aberration correction.

Impact and Outlook

For Bertin Alpao, TeQuants was more than a funded research programme. The demanding requirements of quantum telecommunications pushed the team to rethink parts of the AO control chain, and the DM Shaper came directly out of that work. It is now a standalone product, finding applications well beyond the original project scope: industrial adaptive optics, high-speed optical communication platforms, and any setup where faster, more stable wavefront correction matters.