The future quantum internet will leverage existing communication infrastructures, including deployed optical fibre networks, to enable novel applications that outperform current information technology. In this scenario, we perform a feasibility study of quantum communications over an industrial 224 km submarine optical fibre link deployed between Southport in the United Kingdom (UK) and Portrane in the Republic of Ireland (IE). With a characterisation of phase drift, polarisation stability and arrival time of entangled photons, we demonstrate the suitability of the link to enable international UK-IE quantum communications for the first time.
@article{arxiv.2310.04135,
title = {Quantum communications feasibility tests over a UK-Ireland 224-km undersea link},
author = {Ben Amies-King and Karolina P. Schatz and Haofan Duan and Ayan Biswas and Jack Bailey and Adrian Felvinti and Jaimes Winward and Mike Dixon and Mariella Minder and Rupesh Kumar and Sophie Albosh and Marco Lucamarini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.04135},
year = {2024}
}