Researchers from the University of Padova, Italian photonics firm ThinkQuantum s.r.l., and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IFN) have published a real-time field trial of an intermodal quantum key distribution (QKD) system in npj Quantum Information. The experiment connected a remote optical transmitter on Monte Grande to an urban Optical Ground Station (OGS) at the University of Padova across an 18-km horizontal free-space link, which then coupled into a 0.5-km deployed fiber network to reach a receiver laboratory. [ Intermodal 18-km Free-Space to Fiber QKD Architecture ] Optical Transmitter & Channel Adaptive Optics & Receiver OGS Quantum Hardware & Key [...]

Researchers demonstrated quantum key distribution across an 18-kilometer free-space link connected to conventional fiber.

Researchers from the University of Padova, Italian photonics firm ThinkQuantum s.r.l., and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IFN) have published a real-time field trial…