TY - GEN
T1 - Quantum communications uplink to a 3U CubeSat
AU - Neumann, Sebastian P.
AU - Joshi, Siddarth Koduru
AU - Fink, Matthias
AU - Ursin, Rupert
PY - 2018/5/9
Y1 - 2018/5/9
N2 - Losses limit the maximum distance of ground based quantum communication to 400 km. Satellites overcome this limitation. Till date there have been numerous feasibility studies and two successful, large-scale quantum communications satellite missions. Achieving similar performance with a tiny, low-cost CubeSat in the uplink scenario is a major challenge. Here we present a feasibility study for a fully functional 3U-CubeSat-based quantum receiver. The advantage of this scheme is twofold: first, the majority of complex and critical equipment is ground based; second, one satellite design is compatible with a variety of quantum optical experiments. We provide a complete link loss analysis, count rate estimations and preliminary design. Further we discuss solutions to key problems such as satellite pointing errors and measurement/detection issues. Using current technology, we show that the CubeSat is feasible and can be used to violate a Bell-like inequality over a free-space distance of 500 km.
AB - Losses limit the maximum distance of ground based quantum communication to 400 km. Satellites overcome this limitation. Till date there have been numerous feasibility studies and two successful, large-scale quantum communications satellite missions. Achieving similar performance with a tiny, low-cost CubeSat in the uplink scenario is a major challenge. Here we present a feasibility study for a fully functional 3U-CubeSat-based quantum receiver. The advantage of this scheme is twofold: first, the majority of complex and critical equipment is ground based; second, one satellite design is compatible with a variety of quantum optical experiments. We provide a complete link loss analysis, count rate estimations and preliminary design. Further we discuss solutions to key problems such as satellite pointing errors and measurement/detection issues. Using current technology, we show that the CubeSat is feasible and can be used to violate a Bell-like inequality over a free-space distance of 500 km.
KW - CubeSat
KW - Link budget
KW - Quantum Communications
KW - Uplink
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048024659&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICSOS.2017.8357431
DO - 10.1109/ICSOS.2017.8357431
M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)
AN - SCOPUS:85048024659
T3 - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications, ICSOS 2017
SP - 302
EP - 306
BT - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications, ICSOS 2017
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
T2 - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications, ICSOS 2017
Y2 - 14 November 2017 through 16 November 2017
ER -