Drone-based entanglement distribution towards mobile quantum
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Authors: | Hua-Ying Liu Xiao-Hui Tian Changsheng Gu Pengfei Fan Xin Ni Ran Yang Ji-Ning Zhang Mingzhe Hu Jian Guo Xun Cao Xiaopeng Hu Gang Zhao Yan-Qing Lu Yan-Xiao Gong Zhenda Xie Shi-Ning Zhu |
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Institution: | National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, School of Physics, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China |
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Abstract: | Satellites have shown free-space quantum-communication ability; however, they are orbit-limited from full-time all-location coverage. Meanwhile, practical quantum networks require satellite constellations, which are complicated and expensive, whereas the airborne mobile quantum communication may be a practical alternative to offering full-time all-location multi-weather coverage in a cost-effective way. Here, we demonstrate the first mobile entanglement distribution based on drones, realizing multi-weather operation including daytime and rainy nights, with a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt S-parameter measured to be 2.41 ± 0.14 and 2.49 ± 0.06, respectively. Such a system shows unparalleled mobility, flexibility and reconfigurability compared to the existing satellite and fiber-based quantum communication, and reveals its potential to establish a multinode quantum network, with a scalable design using symmetrical lens diameter and single-mode-fiber coupling. All key technologies have been developed to pack quantum nodes into lightweight mobile platforms for local-area coverage, and arouse further technical improvements to establish wide-area quantum networks with high-altitude mobile communication. |
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Keywords: | daytime quantum communication mobile quantum network drone entanglement distribution |
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