(AFMC.mil) The Air Force Research Laboratory Starfire Optical Range (SOR) recently demonstrated quantum communication in daylight under conditions representative of space-to-Earth satellite links.
“This is the world’s first such demonstration, integrating quantum communication with a novel filtering technique enabled by adaptive optics (AO), a technology pioneered at the SOR,” said Dr. Kelly Hammett, director of the AFRL Directed Energy Directorate. A compact AO system was developed for this demonstration to allow quantum communication through-the-air in daylight. Free-space quantum communication in the daytime has been a challenge for the scientific community as it is often negatively impacted by background light.
“The SOR field experiment is the first in a series designed to demonstrate various quantum communication protocols,” said Dr. Mark Gruneisen, principal investigator for quantum communication research at the SOR. Follow-on demonstrations will advance other quantum communication techniques, which will be equally enabled from AO technologies.
US Air Force Starfire Optical Range Demos Quantum Communication in Daylight
