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Distributing entanglement and single photons through an intra-city, free-space quantum channel

K. J. Resch·M. Lindenthal·B. Blauensteiner·H. R. Boehm·A. Fedrizzi·C. Kurtsiefer·A. Poppe·T. Schmitt-Manderbach·M. Taraba·R. Ursin·P. Walther·H. Weier·H. Weinfurter·A. Zeilinger
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Abstract

We have distributed entangled photons directly through the atmosphere to a receiver station 7.8 km away over the city of Vienna, Austria at night. Detection of one photon from our entangled pairs constitutes a triggered single photon source from the sender. With no direct time-stable connection, the two stations found coincidence counts in the detection events by calculating the cross-correlation of locally-recorded time stamps shared over a public internet channel. For this experiment, our quantum channel was maintained for a total of 40 minutes during which time a coincidence lock found approximately 60000 coincident detection events. The polarization correlations in those events yielded a Bell parameter, S=2.27/pm0.019, which violates the CHSH-Bell inequality by 14 standard deviations. This result is promising for entanglement-based free-space quantum communication in high-density urban areas. It is also encouraging for optical quantum communication between ground stations and satellites since the length of our free-space link exceeds the atmospheric equivalent.

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K. J. Resch, M. Lindenthal, B. Blauensteiner, H. R. Boehm, A. Fedrizzi, C. Kurtsiefer, A. Poppe, T. Schmitt-Manderbach, M. Taraba, R. Ursin, P. Walther, H. Weier, H. Weinfurter, A. Zeilinger. 2005-01-26. Distributing entanglement and single photons through an intra-city, free-space quantum channel. https://doi.org/10.1364/opex.13.000202

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