Experimental Demonstration of Free-Space Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution over 144 km

Tobias Schmitt-Manderbach, Henning Weier, Martin Fürst, Rupert Ursin, Felix Tiefenbacher, Thomas Scheidl, Josep Perdigues, Zoran Sodnik, Christian Kurtsiefer, John G. Rarity, Anton Zeilinger, and Harald Weinfurter
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 010504 – Published 5 January 2007

Abstract

We report on the experimental implementation of a Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) protocol type quantum key distribution over a 144 km free-space link using weak coherent laser pulses. Optimization of the link transmission was achieved with bidirectional active telescope tracking, and the security was ensured by employing decoy-state analysis. This enabled us to distribute a secure key at a rate of 12.8bit/s at an attenuation of about 35 dB. Utilizing a simple transmitter setup and an optical ground station capable of tracking a spacecraft in low earth orbit, this outdoor experiment demonstrates the feasibility of global key distribution via satellites.

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  • Received 23 August 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.010504

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Tobias Schmitt-Manderbach1,2,*, Henning Weier2, Martin Fürst2, Rupert Ursin3, Felix Tiefenbacher4,3, Thomas Scheidl4,3, Josep Perdigues5, Zoran Sodnik5, Christian Kurtsiefer6, John G. Rarity7, Anton Zeilinger4,3, and Harald Weinfurter1,2

  • 1Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, D-80799 Munich, Germany
  • 3Institute for Experimental Physics, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
  • 4Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
  • 5European Space Agency, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
  • 6Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore
  • 7Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom

  • *Electronic address: tschmitt@lmu.de

See Also

Long-Distance Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution in Optical Fiber

Danna Rosenberg, Jim W. Harrington, Patrick R. Rice, Philip A. Hiskett, Charles G. Peterson, Richard J. Hughes, Adriana E. Lita, Sae Woo Nam, and Jane E. Nordholt
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 010503 (2007)

Experimental Long-Distance Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution Based on Polarization Encoding

Cheng-Zhi Peng, Jun Zhang, Dong Yang, Wei-Bo Gao, Huai-Xin Ma, Hao Yin, He-Ping Zeng, Tao Yang, Xiang-Bin Wang, and Jian-Wei Pan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 010505 (2007)

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Vol. 98, Iss. 1 — 5 January 2007

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