Chinese researchers create first ever quantum satellite network

Back in olden times quantum entanglement was laughed off as “spooky action at a distance” by Einstein. Now, a new study shows a successful transmission of the entangled photons between suborbital space and Earth.

In their study, the Chinese scientists from Science and Technology University discovered the transmission over a distance of more than 1200 km, beating the former record for triumphant entanglement distribution which was approximately 100 km.

The lead author Juan Yin said, “We have demonstrated the distribution of two entangled photons from a satellite to two ground stations that are 1,203 kilometers apart. Long-distance entanglement distribution is essential for the testing of quantum physics and quantum networks.”

Quantum entanglement is an eccentric phenomenon which takes place when two or more particles bond together and affect each other in an instant, despite of how distant they are; a fact that was formerly mocked by Einstein.

In order to better explain this phenomenon, if one particle is made to spin in clockwise direction, then according to the fact, the other particle will spin in an anti-clockwise direction no matter if it’s one centimeter apart or at the other end of cosmos. This occurrence has remained a mystery for discovering how information can likely be transmitted over such long distances.

A major problem with this is that particles can probably get lost in the long distance as they travel along optical fibers or over open lands. Yin, along with his team, exhibited an improved method in order to achieve global quantum networks through satellite technology and laser beams, reports Science Alert.

Scientists made use of the world’s first quantum-enabled satellite, Micius, for communicating with three ground stations across China with the help of entangled photons.

As per Science Daily, each station was about 1200 km apart and within 500 to 2000 km away from the orbiting satellite. Through a beam splitter, the scientists split the laser beam from the satellite into two separate polarized forms. The first split beam was used for sending the entangled photons, whereas, the other one was used as a photon receiver. Regardless of the distance, the photons sustained their entanglement and were successfully received by the ground stations.

“The result again confirms the nonlocal feature of entanglement and excludes the models of reality that rest on the notions of locality and realism. Compared with the previous method of entanglement distribution by direct transmission of the same two-photon source the link efficiency of our satellite-based approach is 12 and 17 orders of magnitude higher,” the team wrote in their paper Science.

The primary advantage of this advancement is that satellites can cover two Earth-based sites that are thousands of kilometers away, that too with no difficulty.