Credit: NASA/Unsplash
Credit: NASA/Unsplash

Quantum cryptography goes the distance

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Entanglement is a key concept in quantum computing; simply put, it means that two particles are perfectly correlated with each other, no matter how far apart they are. Theoretically, this concept could make for a more secure encryption technique, but previous real-world trials have only been successful up to distances of 100 km. Now, an international research team reports being able to use photons to securely distribute a ‘secret key’ to exchange encrypted messages over a distance of 1,120 km via satellite. The authors say the results represent a path towards entanglement-based global quantum networks.

Journal/conference: Nature

Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41586-020-2401-y

Organisation/s: University of Science and Technology of China, China

Funder: This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2017YFA0303900), the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (grant number 2019SHZDZX01), the Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies, Science and Technological Fund of Anhui Province for Outstanding Youth (grant number 1808085J18) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers U1738201, 61625503, 11822409, 11674309, 11654005 and 61771443).

Media release

From: Springer Nature

The exchange of a ‘secret key’ for encrypting and decrypting messages over a distance of 1,120 kilometres is reported in Nature this week. This achievement is made using entanglement-based quantum key distribution, a theoretically secure communication technique. Previous attempts to directly distribute quantum keys between two ground users under real-world conditions have reached distances of only around 100 kilometres.

Quantum communication uses photons to securely distribute a ‘secret key’ to allow the exchange of encrypted messages. Previous work has demonstrated quantum key distribution along up to 404 kilometres of coiled optical fibre in a laboratory, or from a satellite to a ground station up to 1,200 kilometres away. However, real-world application between two users has been limited to around 100 kilometres. This is due to photon losses, which increase rapidly with distance. Trusted relays or ‘repeaters’ offer a way to extend the distance and avoid photon loss, but the relay stations introduce security risks.

Jian-Wei Pan and colleagues circumvent the need for repeaters by using a satellite to establish a secure link between two ground stations on Earth, using entangled photons. Entangled photons are linked in such a way that, even when separated by long distances, outcomes of measurements of their quantum properties are perfectly correlated. Two telescopes, designed to receive such quantum signals, were built 1,120 kilometres apart in Delingha and Nanshan in China. Entangled photons produced by the Micius satellite are transmitted to the ground as the satellite passes over the stations. Although satellite-based entanglement distribution has been reported before, the authors have now increased their transmission efficiency and reduced error rates enough to use entanglement to transmit quantum keys. They show that the system produces a secure channel that is resistant to attacks.

The results represent a path towards entanglement-based global quantum networks, the authors conclude.

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