Chinese scientists have set up an integrated quantum network that combines 700 fiber and two ground-to-satellite links and realized quantum key distribution (QKD) between more than 150 users over a combined distance of 4,600 km. This could become an entirely safe and unhackable communications network.
In the future, quantum communication will be applied in fields of finance, political affairs and national defense. A whole industry chain and eventually a truly secure quantum internet will be possible, said Pan Jianwei from the University of Science and Technology of China at Hefei, the leader of the project. Based on the laws of quantum physics, quantum communications have ultra-high security.
According to the Chinese report, it is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information since the quantum state of a photon that transmits data along optical fibers will “collapse” once it is wiretapped. In the quantum network, several services such as video calls, audio calls, faxing, text transmissions and file transmissions have been realized for technological verification and real-world demonstrations. Chinese businesses, including two banks, have used the network.
A description of this work has been published in the latest issue of Nature magazine.
