World’s First Quantum Communication Network
China is keeping its leadership in quantum communication. Recently, they were the first to run a practically usable quantum communication network that connects over 150 users including banks, energy providers, or the government.
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Quantum communication is coming as Chinese experts got the world’s first integrated quantum communication network running. It includes over 700 terrestrial optical cables and two lines between Earth and a satellite while covering users in China for a distance of up to 4600 kilometers. The team led by Jianwei Pan, Yuao Chen, and Chengzhi Peng from the University of Science and Technology of China recently published their results in the journal Nature.
Currently, quantum communications are considered to be unhackable and thus a safe form of communication that could be used for critical infrastructures such as energy, banking, defense, and other industries. The key feature of quantum communication is quantum key distribution (QKD) that allows to send encrypted information that is also indecipherable without the proper key through unprotected channels. It uses photon quantum entanglement allowing you to know that you're being monitored immediately as the act of observing will change the transferred information.
The most common QKD technologies include transfer through optical cables over distances of hundreds of kilometers Another option is to transfer data from the Earth’s surface to satellites. In 2016, China released the first quantum satellite QUESS known as also Mocius that allowed to perform a QKD transfer between two terrestrial stations that were 2600 kilometers apart. And in 2017 the terrestrial quantum optical network with a length of over 2,000 kilometers connecting Beijing and Shanghai was built.
Now, the Chinese experts used both terrestrial and satellite parts and connected more than 150 users including banks, energy networks, and the government. Jianwei Pan is convinced that they proved the usability of quantum communication networks for large practical applications. Similar networks could soon be built on an international level if the countries will be willing to agree on some standards.
Currently, the scientists are working on enhancing individual parts of the quantum network. They increased the creation of the key during the QKD transfer from the satellite to Earth to an average speed of 47.8 kilobits per second improving it roughly 40 times from previous speeds. They also implemented a new technology called twin-field QKD that allowed to transfer the QKD over distances larger than 500 kilometers. The Chinese team is also planning to develop cheap and small QKD satellites alongside satellites for high orbit that would allow us to transfer QKD over distances of tenths of thousands of kilometers.
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