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EduQ — DIY Quantum Self-Education Platform for anyone

Broadening quantum education to new audiences ... Quantum Optic for all !

… How to create your own entangled photon source … in your garage.

See what’s new in v2 Where we presented EduQ
Mission

Why EduQ?

Quantum technologies are leaving the lab. EduQ lowers the barrier to entry by combining open hardware, free software, and clear learning modules so students, engineers and security professionals can touch the physics and understand implications for future communications.

  • Hands‑on: real single‑photon and entanglement experiments
  • Security angle: learn, test, and reason about entanglement‑based protocols and attack surfaces
  • Accessible: DIY parts, documentation, reproducible builds
EduQ v1

What we implemented

  • DIY entangled photon source via SPDC (405 nm pump, BBO)
  • Heralded single‑photon & coincidence detection (FPGA‑based)
  • Core experiments: Bell/CHSH tests, polarization tomography, g²(0)
  • GUI for counts and alignment; optics/fiber coupling workflow
  • Source code available on Github
SPDC bench with photon detectors 405 nm pump laser on optical table Optical bench – setup view 1 Optical bench – setup view 2
Lessons learned

DIY quantum is feasible and educational, but alignment is delicate and resources are expensive. This informed v2: remote motorization, safer operation, and shared access to costly photon sources and detectors.

  • Safety: laser classes 2/3R; interlocks and SOPs
  • Efficiency: detector dark counts and coupling dominate UX
  • Reproducibility: containerized tooling and public repos
EduQ v2

From local bench to Internet‑accessible lab

Goal: expose real optical hardware to the web (not just simulations). All core components are motorized so users can adjust waveplates, polarizers, PBS and couplers remotely with precision.

  • Motorized optics: stepper/servo stages for rotation & translation
  • Remote control: web UI + API (FastAPI backend, React front)
  • FPGA v2: timing core for coincidences & gating
  • Safety: rate monitoring, interlocks, session quotas
Photon counting modules FPGA coincidence detection gateware

Early automation: motorized HWP, mirrors and other optics (EduQ v2)

EduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototypeEduQ v2 automation and motorization prototype

Videos — experiments and debugging logs

Note on G2 tracking: we do not yet know why these peaks appear — we are investigating 🙂

Tracking of G2 in a DIY SPDC setup (March 13, 2025)

First coincidence detection on the AC channel after alignment (Nov 29, 2023)

Photon multiplexing

Goal of EduQ v2 — Towards an Open and Scalable Quantum Optics Platform

EduQ v2 ultimately aims to make real optical quantum experiments remotely accessible. By multiplexing photon sources and distributing entangled photon pairs through a fair scheduler, the platform will allow many users to conduct authentic experiments end‑to‑end — without photons ever leaving EduQ’s secure experimental environment.

This vision seeks to lower both acquisition and operational costs, extending participation to a broader academic and educational community. EduQ v2 is currently under active construction and in search of funding to realize this essential goal: a truly open, shared, and scalable quantum learning infrastructure.

Inside the platform, entangled photons are continuously generated and assigned to users in bursts. A scheduler isolates sessions so each participant can run their own experiment end‑to‑end without photons ever leaving EduQ.

  • Session scheduler: fair allocation of photon‑pair bursts
  • Heralding signals bound to user sessions
  • Audit trail for reproducibility and research
Experiment

Bell / CHSH

Test local realism with polarization‑entangled pairs; measure S > 2 to evidence quantum correlations.

  • Polarizers + HWP/QWP
  • Coincidence window ≈ 5–10 ns
Experiment

g²(0) measurement

Second‑order correlation to confirm non‑classical light (g²(0) < 1).

  • Beam splitter + two detectors
  • Count statistics & timing
Experiment

E91 principles

Introduce entanglement‑based concepts for QKD (no photon leaves EduQ): basis choice, sifting, error rates and security assumptions.

  • Entanglement + authenticated classical channel
  • Session‑scoped heralding
Events & outreach

Where we promoted EduQ

  • Quantum Village demo & talk — hands‑on session and live demonstration
  • Cybersecurity school (FR) — classroom deployment & hands‑on session
  • Community workshops & talks — Black Hat / HITB / CCC (trainings & sessions by Yann Allain)
Talk – main stage slide Talk – motivation & DIY approach Talk – audience & demo School demo – slide & bench School demo – presenter
Open licenses

Everything stays open

  • Software: AGPL‑3.0 / Apache‑2.0
  • Hardware: CERN OHL v2
  • Docs & courses: CC‑BY‑SA 4.0

Public repos, CI, issue tracker, and archived releases ensure reproducibility.

About the Author

Yann Allain

Yann Allain — 25+ years in cybersecurity; hardware hacker and educator. Speaker and trainer at international security conferences (e.g., Black Hat, HITB, CCC). Creator of open hardware tools such as Hardsploit and long‑time contributor to hands‑on security education. Built a DIY ion trap computing platform and shifted focus to quantum communication, training professionals on quantum impacts. Passionate about bridging hardware, cybersecurity, and quantum worlds, and about making advanced science approachable. He is also the head of a cybersecurity major in a French engineering school and serves as an associate professor in cybersecurity for several French higher‑education institutions.

MastodonFediverse:@allainyann@piaille.fr
Contact

Get in touch

Lead: Yann Allain — @allainyann

Location: Europe (France)

Credits

Inspired by hacker culture and the quantum education community. Photos are from the author’s lab and field activities. This single‑file build embeds images via Base64 for portability.

Sources, References & Acknowledgements — enabling near‑DIY quantum exploration

This platform has been made possible by community-shared work, documentation, books, and open projects. In particular:

  • PhysLab Quantum Measurement Lab (QMLab) — accessible resources, set‑ups and instructional experiments.
  • Team of Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sabieh Anwar — open materials and contributions that inspired the practical, open ethos of this project.

The “Single‑Photon Laboratory” book — an academic yet hands‑on perspective

A concise pedagogical guide to experimental quantum optics at the single‑photon level: it outlines modular hardware blocks, alignment practices, measurement protocols, and data‑driven analysis to realise real experiments. The guiding philosophy is rigor with access: reproducible and transparent procedures, pragmatic bill‑of‑materials thinking, and incremental buildability that lowers barriers for learners and instructors. The book itself builds on many prior works from the community, which cannot all be cited here.

With appreciation to the many contributors whose efforts make quantum experimentation learnable and within reach—almost DIY—without compromising scientific integrity.