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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday June 18 2017, @04:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the spooky-satellite dept.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/chinas-quantum-satellite-achieves-spooky-action-record-distance

Quantum entanglement—physics at its strangest—has moved out of this world and into space. In a study that shows China's growing mastery of both the quantum world and space science, a team of physicists reports that it sent eerily intertwined quantum particles from a satellite to ground stations separated by 1200 kilometers, smashing the previous world record. The result is a stepping stone to ultrasecure communication networks and, eventually, a space-based quantum internet.

"It's a huge, major achievement," says Thomas Jennewein, a physicist at the University of Waterloo in Canada. "They started with this bold idea and managed to do it."

[...] The implications go beyond record-setting demonstrations: A network of satellites could someday connect the quantum computers being designed in labs worldwide. Pan's paper "shows that China is making the right decisions," says Zeilinger, who has pushed the European Space Agency to launch its own quantum satellite. "I'm personally convinced that the internet of the future will be based on these quantum principles."


Original Submission

Related Stories

Chinese Researchers Boost Efficiency of Satellite-Based Quantum Cryptography 6 comments

Quantum Satellite Links Extend More Than 1,000 Kilometers

A space-based, virtually unhackable quantum Internet may be one step closer to reality due to satellite experiments that linked ground stations more than 1,000 kilometers apart, a new study finds.

[...] In 2017, scientists in China used the satellite nicknamed Micius, which is dedicated to quantum science experiments, to connect sites on Earth separated by up to roughly 1,200 kilometers via entanglement. Although those experiments generated about 5.9 million entangled pairs of photons every second, the researchers were able to detect only one pair per second, an efficiency rate far too low for useful entanglement-based quantum cryptography.

Now, the same researchers have achieved their goal of entanglement-based quantum cryptography using the Micius satellite. The scientists, who detailed their findings [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2401-y] [DX] online in the 15 June edition of the journal Nature, say they again connected two observatories separated by 1,120 kilometers. But this time, the collection efficiency of the links was improved by up to four-fold, which resulted in data rates of about 0.12 bits per second.

The scientists employed two ground stations, in Delingha and Nanshan, in China. Each site had a newly built telescope 1.2 meters wide that was specifically designed for the quantum experiments.

To boost the efficiency of the quantum cryptography links, the researchers focused on improving the systems used to acquire, orient toward and track targets at both the satellite and ground stations. They also made sure to improve the receiving and collection efficiencies of the lenses and other optical equipment on the ground.

Also at New Scientist and NYT.

Previously: China's "Quantum-Enabled Satellite" Launches
China's Quantum Communications Satellite Beats Record
Unbreakable: China Doubles Down On Quantum Internet
Quantum Video Chat Links Scientists on Two Different Continents
Why This Intercontinental Quantum-Encrypted Video Hangout is a Big Deal

Related: Quantum Ghost Imaging Spy Satellites


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:11PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:11PM (#527527)

    I'm a quantum scrub. But what does this imply on low latency communications?

    Will we finally be able to get faster than light information exchange?

    • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:39PM

      by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:39PM (#527533)

      If that's the case, be sure the first application of this amazing technology will be for high frequency trading.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @06:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @06:24PM (#527550)

      No. The speed of light is the limit to transmit information. This satellite can transmit quantum information, but the speed is the same.

  • (Score: 2) by radu on Monday June 19 2017, @10:39AM

    by radu (1919) on Monday June 19 2017, @10:39AM (#527844)

    ... made in China?

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