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Applied physics

Quantum signals could soon span the globe

Nature volume 549, pages 41–42 (2017)Cite this article

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Quantum communication offers many advantages over classical methods, but it has been limited to sending signals across a few hundred kilometres. Two studies overcome this limitation. See Article p.43 & Letter p.70

The quantum properties of light can be used for communicating in ways that are not possible in classical physics. For instance, they allow encrypted messages to be exchanged with absolute security and enable information about an object to be transferred without needing to send the object itself. In typical quantum communication channels — such as optical fibres — more and more photons are lost as the transmission distance increases, which severely limits how far an information transmitter and receiver can be from one another. On pages 43 and 70, respectively, Liao et al.1 and Ren et al.2 demonstrate quantum communication between an orbiting satellite and ground stations on Earth in which photon loss is minimized because the particles mostly travel through empty space. The authors have extended the communication distance achieved in previous studies3,4 by hundreds of kilometres — a milestone towards bringing quantum communication to a global scale.

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Figure 1: Long-distance quantum communication.

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References

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  1. National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, 75005, France

    Eleni Diamanti

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  1. Eleni Diamanti
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Correspondence to Eleni Diamanti.

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Diamanti, E. Quantum signals could soon span the globe. Nature 549, 41–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/549041a

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