Experimental Demonstration of Drone-Based Quantum Key Distribution
Quantum state transferring has been demonstrated using drones via entanglement distribution. Here, we demonstrate the first drone-based quantum task for quantum key distribution (QKD). Compact and polarization-maintaining acquisition, pointing, and tracking systems and QKD modules are developed and loaded on a homemade octocopter with a takeoff weight of 30 kg. Real-time QKD is performed over a 200 m distance with an 8.48 kHz average secret key rate using a polarization-coded decoy-state BB84 protocol. With the capability of secret key distribution using a drone, wireless communication can be expected with enhanced security in the quantum approach between mobile nodes toward a network.
Authors
- Zhenda Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2060-3063)
- Changsheng Gu
- Yan-Xiao Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9374-1067)
- Huaying Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0230-537X)
- Mengwen Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4130-2141)
- Mingzhe Hu
- Ran Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7921-3097)
- Shuang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2541-8908)
- Pengfei Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2638-903X)
- Feng-Yu Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9138-8316)
- Ji-Ning Zhang
- Zhen−Qiang Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3486-3934)
- Zhijun Yin
- Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1789-789X)
- Shining N. Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3472-6497)
- Mo Yuan
- Xiao-Hui Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7098-0449)
- Chunxi Zhu
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- III-N Technology (United States) (US)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2024-11-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.133.200801
- Citations
- 23
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.99
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- Nanjing University
- National Key Research and Development Program of China