Coherent Quantum Communications Across National Scale Telecommunication Infrastructure
Abstract
Quantum communications harness quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement to enhance information transfer between remote nodes. Coherent quantum communications, essential for phase-based quantum internet architecture, require optical coherence among nodes and typically involve single-photon interference. Challenges like preserving optical coherence and integrating advanced single-photon detectors have impeded their deployment in existing telecommunication networks. This study introduces innovative approaches to the architecture and techniques supporting coherent quantum communications, marking their first successful integration within a commercial telecom infrastructure between Frankfurt and Kehl, Germany. Employing the Twin Field Quantum Key Distribution protocol, we achieved encryption key distribution at 110 bit/s over 254 km. This system features measurement-device-independent properties and non-cryogenically cooled detectors, and represents the first effective quantum repeater implementation on telecom infrastructure, the longest practical quantum key distribution deployment to date, and validates the feasibility of a phase-based quantum internet architecture.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2405.11990,
title = {Coherent Quantum Communications Across National Scale Telecommunication Infrastructure},
author = {Mirko Pittaluga and Yuen San Lo and Adam Brzosko and Robert I. Woodward and Matthew S. Winnel and Thomas Roger and James F. Dynes and Kim A. Owen and Sergio Juarez and Piotr Rydlichowski and Domenico Vicinanza and Guy Roberts and Andrew J. Shields},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.11990},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
22 pages, 9 figures. Methods and supplementary materials are included. NOTES on v2: corrected the placement of Fig. 2 and Fig. S4. The figures were swapped on v1 of the uploaded manuscript