A quantum receiver the size of a single detector will be replaced by an array of detectors that can see and correct for atmospheric disturbances in real time. Today’s quantum key distribution (QKD) systems—which use single photons to create unhackable encryption keys—are limited by turbulence in the air. When a laser beam carrying quantum information passes through the atmosphere, it wobbles, scatters, and loses signal. Current receivers, using one detector at a time, cannot compensate. They produce keys too slowly, unreliably, or expensively for practical use. QUANTA builds receivers from arrays of single-photon detectors. The array’s spatial resolution lets it sense wavefront distortions, track the beam’s position, cancel noise, and recover from detector “dead time” after each photon hit. This means the receiver can actively correct for turbulence rather than just suffer it. If successful, the project could boost key generation rates for terrestrial and satellite QKD links—making quantum-secure communication viable for financial transactions, government networks, and critical infrastructure before large-scale quantum computers arrive. It also opens a path to low-cost wireless QKD systems that do not require fibre-optic cables.
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Future-proof secure communication enabled by quantum cryptography offers proven resilience and security across various industrial sectors, making it of utmost national importance. The UK National Quantum Strategy envisions achieving quantum advantage at scale by 2035, reaching a trillion quantum operations, which could undermine the classical cryptographic techniques currently used to secure the internet. This underscores the significance of quantum-key distribution (QKD) in achieving provable security in the presence of future quantum computing-enabled attackers. The existing limitations on the key generation rate, reliability, and cost of the current QKD technology necessitates faster, more reliable, and more practical QKD solutions. QUANTA’s vision is to produce a significant step change in the design and performance of practical QKD systems. In contrast to current QKD receivers, which use individual single-photon detectors (SPDs) to measure qubits, QUANTA will employ SPD arrays to exploit their scalable spatial degrees of freedom. This enables QUANTA's receivers to support additional functionalities beyond qubit detection, such as wavefront sensing, spatial beam tracking, multiplexing, noise cancellation, and dead-time mitigation. Thus, a range of advancements can be achieved from increasing resilience to the turbulence effect in atmospheric QKD links deployed on terrestrial or satellite platforms to enhance the key generation rate of low-cost wireless QKD systems.
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