Intersatellite quantum communication feasibility study

Abstract

The shift in the Communication paradigm from the bit to the qubit is increasingly exploited in terrestrial long range links and networks, with strong potentials in secure communications, quantum computing and metrology. The space-to-ground quantum key distribution was also considered as feasible. A new different scenario for the quantum communications is that of the intersatellite link. In this study we focus on the extension of intersatellite communications into the quantum domain. The long distances involved and the fast relative motion are severe constraints, partially compensated by the absence of beam degradation due to the propagation in the atmosphere as well as the relatively low background noise level. We address the conception of the optical terminal and the predicted performances in the case of constellations of LEO and MEO satellite including the quantum communications and quantum teleportation

Quantum Communication over Atmospheric Channels: A Framework for Optimizing Wavelength and Filtering

“…For the uplink scenario and long horizontal propagation paths, where beam spreading is significant, Eq. 7 is modified via the beam width function [36,40] and in some situations the intensity distribution at the receiver may even be non-Gaussian, requiring further analysis.…”

An Overview on Deployment Strategies for Global Quantum Key Distribution Networks

“…Due to the low channel loss in space and negligible interference from classical channels, satellite QKD drew significant research interest and has been considered as a promising candidate to enable global coverage of QKD networks [72,73]. The feasibility studies of satellite QKD started back in 2002 [74][75][76]. The first free-space QKD link on the ground was realized in 1996 [77] with a distance of 150 m (indoor) or 75 m (outdoor).…”

Towards quantum communication from global navigation satellite system

“…At the same time, space quantum communications (QCs) (see the reviews [7][8][9]) represent a promising resource to guarantee unconditional security for satellite-to-ground [10][11][12] and inter-satellite optical links [13,14], by exploiting quantum information protocols as quantum key distribution (QKD) [15,16]. Despite being a relative new research field born in the 2000s, satellite QCs developed rapidly from the first experimental studies of photon-exchange [17,18] from Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites to the feasibility-test of different photon encodings such polarization [19,20], time-bin [21], and continuous-variable [22].…”