Chinese quantum teleport photons to satellite

A group of Chinese researchers has successfully teleported the quantum information of entangled photons to a satellite orbiting the Earth. In doing so, they have improved the distance record for quantum teleportation.

Quantum teleportation works by sending the quantum information from one entangled particle to its counterpart. Thus, not the particle itself is physically transported, but only all the information with which that particle is described. The Chinese team carried out its experiment using a satellite that was placed in orbit and passed over the same spot on Earth at the same time every day. This Micius satellite has a photon receiver on board that can measure the quantum states of received photons.

The researchers sent entangled photons to the satellite from a base in Tibet at an altitude of about four kilometers to avoid as much atmospheric disturbances as possible. By sending one photon of the entangled pairs to the satellite, after 32 days they had sent millions of photons to the satellite. By then measuring the quantum state of the photon at the ground station, they teleported the quantum state to the entangled photon in the satellite. According to the researchers, this has been achieved a total of 911 times. The distance varied from 500 km to 1400 km.

With this, the researchers have not only set a distance record, but also achieved the first quantum teleportation to a satellite in orbit around the Earth. The experiment would, among other things, enable quantum encryption between a satellite and a ground station.