Q³Sat: quantum communications uplink to a 3U CubeSat: feasibility and design (Conference Presentation)

Neumann, Sebastian Philipp; Joshi, Siddarth Koduru; Fink, Matthias; Scheidl, Thomas; Blach, Roland; Scharlemann, Carsten; Abouagaga, Sameh; Bambery, Daanish; Kerstel, Erik; Barthélemy, Mathieu; Ursin, Rupert

doi:10.1117/12.2326530

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Quantum-cubed satellite is an Austrian satellite being developed as a compact 3U uplink quantum satellite [204]. The mission aims to produce low cost secure keys at ~EUR20 per kbit.…”

Section: Q 3 Satmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in space quantum communications

Sidhu

Joshi

Gündoğan

et al. 2021

IET Quantum Communication

Self Cite

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Concerted efforts are underway to establish an infrastructure for a global quantum Internet to realise a spectrum of quantum technologies. This will enable more precise sensors, secure communications, and faster data processing. Quantum communications are a front-runner with quantum networks already implemented in several metropolitan areas. A number of recent proposals have modelled the use of space segments to overcome range limitations of purely terrestrial networks. Rapid progress in the design of quantum devices have enabled their deployment in space for in-orbit demonstrations. We review developments in this emerging area of space-based quantum technologies and provide a roadmap of key milestones towards a complete, global quantum networked landscape. Small satellites hold increasing promise to provide a cost effective coverage required to realise the quantum Internet. The state of art in small satellite missions is reviewed and the most current in-field demonstrations of quantum cryptography are collated. The important challenges in space quantum technologies that must be overcome and recent efforts to mitigate their effects are summarised. A perspective on future developments that would improve the performance of space quantum communications is included. The authors conclude with a discussion on fundamental physics experiments that could take advantage of a global, space-based quantum network.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

show abstract

“…The Quantum-cubed satellite is an Austrian satellite being developed as a compact 3U uplink quantum satellite [204]. The mission aims to produce low cost secure keys at ~EUR20 per kbit.…”

Section: Q 3 Satmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in space quantum communications

Sidhu

Joshi

Gündoğan

et al. 2021

IET Quantum Communication

Self Cite

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Novel concepts for space QComms [192] NanoBob & Q 3 sat: Uplink polarisation based detection on 12U & 3U CubeSat [193,194] QKDsat: By Arqit.…”

Section: Quess Satellitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…3.2.7 Q 3 sat: The Quantum-cubed satellite is an Austrian satellite being developed as a compact 3U uplink quantum satellite [194]. The mission aims to produce low cost secure keys at ≈ EUR20 per kbit.…”

Section: Qubementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Waveguide or four wave mixing based sources [322] can also generate entangled photon pairs, but their rate is limited compared with lower order non-linear processes [323]. To achieve a given key rate, an entanglement-based source needs to be much brighter than a typical WCP source, but entanglement protocols like E91 [79] can still produce keys under higher losses than WCP sources running DSP [194]. Entangled sources with high quality and brightness would greatly improve to the quality of the quantum channel [96].…”

Section: Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Advances in Space Quantum Communications

Sidhu,

Joshi,

Gundogan

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Concerted efforts are underway to establish an infrastructure for a global quantum internet to realise a spectrum of quantum technologies. This will enable more precise sensors, secure communications, and faster data processing. Quantum communications are a front-runner with quantum networks already implemented in several metropolitan areas. A number of recent proposals have modelled the use of space segments to overcome range limitations of purely terrestrial networks. Rapid progress in the design of quantum devices have enabled their deployment in space for in-orbit demonstrations. We review developments in this emerging area of space-based quantum technologies and provide a roadmap of key milestones towards a complete, global quantum networked landscape. Small satellites hold increasing promise to provide a cost effective coverage required to realised the quantum internet. We review the state of art in small satellite missions and collate the most current in-field demonstrations of quantum cryptography. We summarise important challenges in space quantum technologies that must be overcome and recent efforts to mitigate their effects. A perspective on future developments that would improve the performance of space quantum communications is included. We conclude with a discussion on fundamental physics experiments that could take advantage of a global, space-based quantum network.

show abstract

“…System installation, commissioning, and calibration also take months and even years 33,34 , and these difficulties greatly limit the practicality of space-based QKD. Application-oriented next-generation quantum satellites are expected to be as small as a micro-or nano-satellites, which have lower development and launch costs 24,[28][29][30] . Similarly, in order to achieve large-scale deployment, the optical ground stations must be user-oriented and miniaturized.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portable ground stations for space-to-ground quantum key distribution

Ren¹,

Abulizi²,

Yong³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Quantum key distribution (QKD) uses the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics to share unconditionally secure keys between distant users. Previous works based on the quantum science satellite "Micius" have initially demonstrated the feasibility of a global QKD network. However, the practical applications of space-based QKD still face many technical problems, such as the huge size and weight of ground stations required to receive quantum signals. Here, we report space-to-ground QKD demonstrations based on portable receiving ground stations. The weight of the portable ground station is less than 100 kg, the space required is less than 1 m 3 and the installation time requires no more than 12 hours, all of the weight, required space and deployment time are about two orders of magnitude lower than those for the previous systems. Moreover, the equipment is easy to handle and can be placed on the roof of buildings in a metropolis. Secure keys have been successfully generated from the "Micius" satellite to these portable ground stations at six different places in China, and an average final secure key length is around 50 kb can be obtained during one passage. Our results pave the way for, and greatly accelerate the practical application of, space-based QKD.

show abstract

Q³Sat: quantum communications uplink to a 3U CubeSat: feasibility and design (Conference Presentation)

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Advances in space quantum communications

Advances in space quantum communications

Advances in Space Quantum Communications

Portable ground stations for space-to-ground quantum key distribution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About