Emulation of satellite up-link quantum communication with entangled photons
Thomas Jaeken, Alexander Pickston, Faris Redza, Thomas D. Jennewein, Alessandro Fedrizzi · Optica Quantum · 2025
Quantum communication rates in terrestrial quantum networks are fundamentally limited by fiber loss, even in the presence of quantum repeaters. Satellites offer a solution for long-distance communication, with the most commonly explored scenario involving prepare-and-measure protocols connecting from orbit to a trusted-node ground station via free-space down-links. In contrast, up-link scenarios allow for entanglement to be distributed between a satellite and remote end-users in terrestrial networks, eliminating any trust requirement on the ground station. Here, we demonstrate an ultra-bright source of far-non-degenerate entangled photons and perform quantum key distribution in emulated high-loss satellite scenarios. With a loss profile corresponding to that of one of the pioneering Micius up-link experiments, and a terrestrial end-user separated by 10 km of telecom fiber, we achieve secure key bit accumulation of 5.2 kbit in a single emulated overpass in the asymptotic limit. Our results confirm the viability of upcoming low-Earth orbit receiver satellite missions.