Inventory: Ten key steps in the development of quantum communication in China, from following to partially leading

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01 Deceived-state quantum key distribution becomes practical

In 2005, scholars from Tsinghua University proposed the decoyed state quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme[1], which can be well applied in practical systems.

In 2006, the team from USTC was the first to realize a 100-kilometer-long decoyed-state quantum key distribution experiment, which opened the door to the practical application of quantum secure communications. Later, the team extended the distance of optical fiber quantum key distribution to 200 kilometers [2].

In 2008, my country’s first three-node fully connected quantum secure telephone network was successfully tested in Hefei[3], and related technologies were used in the 60th Anniversary National Day Parade in 2009.

02 Large-scale metropolitan quantum communication network completed

In 2009, the quantum government network test project[4] was launched in Wuhu, and the full-access quantum communication network test project[5] was launched in Hefei, verifying the feasibility of the basic technology of the metropolitan area network. In the same year, technology achievement transformation companies such as KUST Guodun Quantum and Wuhu Wentian Quantum began to take off.

In 2011, Hefei built the world’s first large-scale quantum communication network, the Hefei Metropolitan Quantum Secure Communication Experimental Demonstration Network[6]. In the same year, the Ministry of Science and Technology’s “863 Program” first quantum communication theme project, “Optical Fiber Quantum Secure Communication Comprehensive Application Demonstration Network” was officially approved. One of the results of this project, the Jinan Quantum Communication Experimental Network[7], was completed in 2013.

03 Long-distance quantum secure communication trunk line project approved

In 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission officially approved the establishment of the world's first thousand-kilometer quantum secure communication trunk line, the "Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line" technology verification and application demonstration project, which was led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and undertaken by the University of Science and Technology of China as the main project construction. The total length of the "Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line" exceeds 2,000 kilometers, covering 32 nodes in four provinces and three cities. Through the Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line, my country has made breakthroughs in a series of key technologies for engineering realization, such as high-speed quantum key distribution, high-speed and high-efficiency single-photon detection, trusted relay transmission, and large-scale quantum network control, and completed the experimental verification of large-scale quantum secure communication technology. At the end of September 2017, the "Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line" was officially opened[8].

04 Quantum science experimental satellite "Micius" launched into space

In 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the world’s first quantum science experimental satellite, “Micius”, a strategic priority science project in space science[9].

In 2017, the Micius completed three scientific experimental tasks ahead of schedule: bidirectional quantum entanglement distribution between the satellite and the ground, high-speed quantum key distribution between the satellite and the ground, and quantum teleportation between the ground and the satellite[10]. On September 29, the Micius successfully docked with the officially opened quantum secure communication “Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line”, realizing intercontinental quantum secure communication. The world’s first satellite-ground integrated wide-area quantum communication network has taken shape[11].

In 2018, based on the achievements of the Micius satellite and the Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line, the National Development and Reform Commission launched the “National Wide-Area Quantum Secure Communication Backbone Network Construction” and included it in the “New Generation Information Infrastructure Construction Project” support project[12].

05 Quantum communication standards are gradually established at home and abroad

In 2016, the China Cryptography Industry Standardization Technical Committee began to launch quantum key distribution-related standardization research projects[13]. In 2017, the China Communications Standards Association established a special task force on quantum communication and information technology[14], and the research and formulation of domestic quantum information technology standards began to accelerate. As of June 2021, the special task force has launched 2 national standards, 12 industry standards, 1 group standard and 25 research reports, of which 3 industry standards have been officially released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology between March and May 2021[15].

At the same time, based on the practical achievements of the Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line, China is also playing a leading role in the formulation of international quantum information standards. In 2019, the International Telecommunication Union established the "Focus Group on Network-oriented Quantum Information Technology"[16]. This is the first quantum information technology focus group in the International Organization for Standardization. It was initiated and established by Chinese teams including Guoke Quantum, Guodun Quantum, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the three major operators, Huawei, ZTE, and China Information and Communications Technology.

06 The dawn of quantum communication chip

In 2019, the USTC team and its collaborators developed a continuous variable quantum key distribution chip[17], which greatly reduced the size of quantum communication hardware and provided new ideas for the popularization of quantum communication technology.

In 2020, a team from USTC, together with UN-Shield Quantum and the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, jointly built a new quantum key distribution system[18], opening up a new path to realize low-cost, scalable and secure quantum communication networks.

07 Continuous breakthroughs in long-distance quantum key distribution

In 2020, a team from the University of Science and Technology of China used the Micius quantum science experimental satellite to achieve the world's first entanglement-based quantum key distribution at the thousand-kilometer level[19].

In 2021, a team from USTC and the Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, based on the on-site optical cable of the "Jinan-Qingdao Trunk Line", used the Guodun quantum hardware platform and the superconducting detection system of the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology to break through the on-site long-distance high-performance single-photon interference technology. They used two technical solutions to achieve dual-field quantum key distribution at the 500-kilometer level, setting a record for the longest distance of on-site non-relay optical fiber quantum key distribution transmission [20].

08 High-dimensional quantum teleportation of quantum internet is realized for the first time

The quantum secure communication network based on quantum key distribution (QKD) currently promoted by various countries is the initial stage of the development of the "quantum Internet". The ultimate goal is to realize a quantum network that connects users, quantum computing, quantum sensing and other nodes using quantum communication technologies such as quantum teleportation.

In 2019, a team from USTC and Austrian researchers successfully achieved the first high-dimensional quantum teleportation in the world[21]. This was the first time that scientists have theoretically and experimentally extended quantum teleportation to arbitrary dimensions, laying a solid scientific foundation for the complete state transmission of complex quantum systems and the development of efficient quantum networks.

09 Quantum Internet: Quantum Computing Achieves “Superiority”

In the field of quantum computing, in 2020, a team from the University of Science and Technology of China built a 76-photon quantum computing prototype "Jiuzhang" [22], enabling my country to successfully reach the first milestone in quantum computing research - quantum computing superiority.

In 2021, a team from USTC successfully developed a 62-bit programmable superconducting quantum computing prototype, the "Zu Chongzhi" [23], and based on this, realized programmable two-dimensional quantum walks, which became an important milestone in China's superconducting quantum computing.

10 Large-scale application starts

Since quantum secure communication technology was used in the 60th anniversary National Day military parade in 2009, it has been demonstrated in government affairs, finance, electricity, industrial Internet and other fields.

In 2021, Nature magazine published an article on my country’s achievement of “a space-ground integrated quantum communication network spanning 4,600 kilometers”[24]. The reviewer commented that this was a “huge engineering achievement” in quantum secure communications.

Currently, China Telecom Group and Quantum Shield have launched the “Quantum Shielding” campaign[25], which plans to provide “quantum security cloud” for public security in 10 cities, quantum security networking solutions for 100 cities, quantum security encryption solutions for 10,000 government and enterprise customers, and quantum security call services for 10 million mobile terminal users, in order to promote the industrialization of quantum secure communication related technologies.

References:

[1] Source: Physical Review Letters

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.230503

[2] Source: CCSA “Quantum Secure Communication Technology White Paper”

[3] Source: Science and Technology Daily

http://www.stdaily.com/kjrb/kjrbbm/2021-06/23/content_1159111.shtml

[4] Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences

http://www.cas.cn/xw/zyxw/yw/200905/t20090519_2313726.shtml

[5] Source: ScienceNet

http://news.sciencenet.cn/sbhtmlnews/2009/9/223647.html

[6] Source: China Science Daily

http://www.cas.cn/xw/cmsm/201202/t20120221_3442898.shtml

[7] Source: Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology

http://www.most.gov.cn/dfkj/sd/zxdt/201311/t20131107_110215.html?searchword=%E6%B5%8E%E5%8D%97%E9%87%8F%E5%AD%90%E4%BF%9D% E5%AF%86%E9%80%9A%E4%BF%A1%E8%AF%95%E9%AA%8C%E7%BD%91&prepage=10&channelid=44374&sortfield=-DOCRELTIME&strKeyWords=&itime=0

[8] Source: Xinhua News Agency

http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-09/04/c_129695914.htm

[9] Source: Xinhua News Agency

http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2016-08/16/c_129231459.htm

[10] Source: Xinhua News Agency

http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-02/15/c_1124120504.htm

[11] Source: International Online

http://www.cas.cn/cm/201709/t20170930_4616570.shtml

[12] Source: National Development and Reform Commission

https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/201711/t20171127_962601.html

[13] Source: Quantum Information Branch of China Information Association, “2020 Quantum Security Technology White Paper”

[14] Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences

http://www.cas.cn/sygz/201706/t20170615_4605181.shtml

[15] Source: China Communications Standards Association

http://www.ccsa.org.cn/webadmin/#/td-standard/standard-common?no=YD%2FT%203835.1-2021&releaseDate=2021-03-05

http://www.ccsa.org.cn/standardDetail?standardNum=YD%2FT%203834.1-2021

http://www.ccsa.org.cn/standardDetail?standardNum=YD%2FT%203907.3-2021

[16] Source: Guangming Online

https://difang.gmw.cn/sd/2019-12/09/content_33387646.htm

[17] Source: Nature Photonics

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-019-0504-5

[18] Source: Physical Review X

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.031030

[19] Source: Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2401-y

[20] Source: Physical Review Letters, Nature Photonics

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.250502

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-021-00828-5

[21] Source: Nature Photonics

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-019-0504-5

[22] Source: Science

https://science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abe8770

[23] Source: Science

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/05/05/science.abg7812

[24] Source: Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03093-8

[25] Source: ScienceNet

http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/11/448206.shtm