Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Free-space communications

Quantum space race heats up

The realization of satellite-to-ground quantum cryptography would make quantum-secured communications possible on a global scale. Four recent breakthroughs suggest that this compelling capability could be achieved by the end of this decade.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Satellite-to-ground quantum communications are opening the door to new secure communications techniques.

References

  1. Takenaka, H. et al. Nat. Photon. 11, 502–508 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Liao, S.-K. et al. Nat. Photon. 11, 509–513 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Yin, J. et al. Science 356, 1140–1144 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Günthner, K. et al. Optica 4, 611–616 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bennett, C. H. & Brassard, G. In Proc. Int. Conf. Computers, Systems Signal Processing 175–179 (IEEE, 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chapuran, T. E. et al. New J. Phys. 11, 105001 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hughes, R. J., Nordholt, J. E., Derkacs, D. & Peterson, C. G. New J. Phys. 4, 43 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nordholt, J. E., Hughes, R. J., Morgan, G. L., Peterson, C. G. & Wipf, C. C. Proc. SPIE 4635, 116–126 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Jono, T. et al. Proc. SPIE 6105, 13–23 (SPIE, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ekert, A. K. Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 661–663 (1991).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Richard J. Hughes or Jane E. Nordholt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hughes, R., Nordholt, J. Quantum space race heats up. Nature Photon 11, 456–458 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.124

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.124

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing