The feasibility of geostationary satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution

Miao, Er-Long; Han, Zheng‐Fu; Zhang, Tao; Guo, Guang‐Can

doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2006.09.013

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…QKD from a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has been demonstrated by Chinese researchers using the Micius satellite 1,2,3 , and commercial QKD solutions for LEO could become available over the next few years 19 . QKD from a geostationary orbit (GEO) would offer substantial advantages 4 over LEO. GEO satellites have a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km above Earth's equator where it appears at a fixed position in the sky to ground observers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GEOQKD: quantum key distribution from a geostationary satellite

Dirks

Ferrario

Pera

et al. 2021

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020

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Due to the distance limitation of quantum communication via ground-based fibre networks, space-based quantum key distribution (QKD) is a viable solution to extend such networks over continental and, ultimately, over global distances. Compared to Low Earth Orbits (LEO), QKD from a Geostationary Orbit (GEO) offers substantial advantages, such as large coverage, continuous link to ground stations (cloud cover limited), 24/7 operation (background limited), and no tracking required. As a downside, QKD from GEO comes with large link losses due to the space-ground distance, lowering the achievable key rates. From our feasibility and conceptual design study it is concluded that although link losses are high, QKD from GEO is technically feasible, and a favourable solution if the satellite needs to act as an untrusted node (that is, no security assumptions required for the space segment). However, the optimal solution, generating a higher value-for-money, is to have the possibility to operate it in trusted mode as well, as higher key rates can be obtained. But this will be at the cost of security as key material needs to be (temporarily) stored on board of the satellite. In order to arrive at a minimum required secure bit rate of ~1 bit/s in untrusted mode, two ~0.5m diameter telescopes in the space segment are required with <0.65μrad pointing accuracy each, a >1GHz entangled photon pair generation rate, in combination with ~2.5m diameter telescopes on ground, operating at 810nm wavelength. In trusted mode, with the same optical system but only using one telescope in the space segment, a factor of ~300 to ~10000 more key can be obtained. Details on our assumptions and results and drawings of the high level system design are presented, as well as a description of the required technology improvements and building blocks needed, which is applicable to non-GEO applications as well.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GEOQKD: quantum key distribution from a geostationary satellite

Dirks

Ferrario

Pera

et al. 2021

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020

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“…However, this technology is not yet ready for application to global distances [10]. The use of a free-space link to an orbiting satellite for QKD can overcome this limitation [8,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and several implementations are being pursued [13,[20][21][22][23][24] with projected launch dates as early as 2017 [22]. Continued advances in technology and the growing concern for more reliable data transmission security protocols have contributed to making satellite QKD an attractive and feasible proposition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corrigendum: A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication (2013 New J. Phys. 15 023006)

et al. 2014

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Corrigendum: A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication (2013 New J. Phys. 15 023006) Abstract. Optical quantum communication utilizing satellite platforms has the potential to extend the reach of quantum key distribution (QKD) from terrestrial limits of ∼200 km to global scales. We have developed a thorough numerical simulation using realistic simulated orbits and incorporating the effects of pointing error, diffraction, atmosphere and telescope design, to obtain estimates of the loss and background noise which a satellite-based system would experience. Combining with quantum optics simulations of sources and detection, we determine the length of secure key for QKD, as well as entanglement visibility and achievable distances for fundamental experiments. We analyse the performance of a low Earth orbit satellite for downlink and uplink scenarios of the quantum optical signals. We argue that the advantages of locating the quantum source on the ground justify a greater scientific interest in an uplink as compared to a downlink. An uplink with a ground transmitter of at least 25 cm diameter and a 30 cm receiver telescope on the satellite could be used to successfully perform QKD multiple times per week with either 4

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“…Quantum key distribution (QKD) exploits the quantum mechanical principle that requires microscopic systems to be changed upon observation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13] for enhancing the security in communication. In particular the quantum properties of single photons are commonly used for the generation the random binary key used in one-time pad type protocols.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum key distribution with integrated optics

Lobino

Laing

Zhang

et al. 2014

2014 19th Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC)

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We report on a quantum key distribution (QKD) experiment where a client with an on-chip polarisation rotator can access a server through a telecom-fibre link. Large resources such as photon source and detectors are situated at server-side. We employ a reference frame independent QKD protocol for polarisation qubits and show that it overcomes detrimental effects of drifting fibre birefringence in a polarisation maintaining fibre.

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The feasibility of geostationary satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution

Cited by 17 publications

References 23 publications

GEOQKD: quantum key distribution from a geostationary satellite

GEOQKD: quantum key distribution from a geostationary satellite

Corrigendum: A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication (2013 New J. Phys. 15 023006)

Quantum key distribution with integrated optics

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