European Researchers Show Quantum Communications Can Travel Long Distances

Researchers from the University of York, in collaboration with the Quantum Communications Hub and euNetworks Fiber UK, said they demonstrated that quantum communications “is possible over the long geographical distance that separates England from Ireland.” The signal had to travel 140 miles on a new, ultra-low loss fiber cable between the two countries. “Many large companies and organizations are interested in quantum communications to secure their data, but it has limitations, particularly the distance it can travel,” said Marco Lucamarini, experimental quantum communications professor at York. “The longer the distance, the more likely it is that the photon -- the particles of light that we use as carriers of quantum information -- are lost, absorbed or scattered in the channel, which reduces the chances of the information reaching its target,” he said: “This presents a problem when organizations need to send private digital information to other cities or other countries, where the additional challenge could also be an ocean between the communications’ start and end point.”