Loading ...In landmark experiment, Chinese scientists beam back “entangled” photons from space
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese scientists on Thursday reported a successful transmission of “entangled” photon pairs from space to ground stations separated by 1,200 km, a major technical breakthrough towards quantum communication over great distances.
The study, published as a cover story by the U.S. journal Science, distributed such “entangled” photons, or light particles, from a satellite 500 km above the Earth’s surface, known as Micius, which was launched last year and equipped with specialized quantum tools.
It’s another effort to prove that a physical phenomenon once described by Albert Einstein as “spooky” exists at a large distance, and eventually on a global scale.
“This work lays a reliable technical foundation for large-scale quantum networking and quantum communication experimental research, as well as experimental testing of basic principles of physics, such as general theory of relativity and quantum gravity, in outer space in the future,” Pan Jianwei, chief scientist for the quantum satellite project, told Xinhua.
cont. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-06/16/c_136369167.htm