Microsatellite-based real-time quantum key distribution
Yang Li, Wen-Qi Cai, Ji-Gang Ren, Chao-Ze Wang, Meng Yang, Liang Zhang, Hui-Ying Wu, Liang Chang, Jin-Cai Wu, Biao Jin, Hua-Jian Xue, Xue-Jiao Li, Hui Liu, Guang-Wen Yu, Xue-Ying Tao, Ting Chen, Chong-Fei Liu, Wen-Bin Luo, Jie Zhou, Hai-Lin Yong, Yu-Huai Li, Feng-Zhi Li

TL;DR
This paper reports the development of a lightweight quantum microsatellite and portable ground stations enabling real-time satellite-based quantum key distribution, significantly reducing size and weight compared to previous systems and demonstrating practical secure communication.
Contribution
The authors developed a compact quantum microsatellite and portable ground stations for real-time space-to-ground QKD, enabling scalable satellite constellations for global quantum networks.
Findings
Successfully demonstrated satellite-based QKD with multiple ground stations.
Shared up to 0.59 million secure bits in a single satellite pass.
Achieved significant size and weight reductions over previous satellite systems.
Abstract
A quantum network provides an infrastructure connecting quantum devices with revolutionary computing, sensing, and communication capabilities. As the best-known application of a quantum network, quantum key distribution (QKD) shares secure keys guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics. A quantum satellite constellation offers a solution to facilitate the quantum network on a global scale. The Micius satellite has verified the feasibility of satellite quantum communications, however, scaling up quantum satellite constellations is challenging, requiring small lightweight satellites, portable ground stations and real-time secure key exchange. Here we tackle these challenges and report the development of a quantum microsatellite capable of performing space-to-ground QKD using portable ground stations. The quantum microsatellite features a payload weighing approximately 23 kg, while the…
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