China achieves a quantum jump
Photo taken on Nov 26, 2016 shows a quantum communication ground station in Xinglong, North China's Hebei province. Chinese scientists on Thursday reported a major breakthrough in quantum communication: A pair of entangled photons over a distance of 1,200 km have been successfully transmitted from space to Earth. The previous record was about 100 km. [Photo/Xinhua] Photon tests blaze trail for communication China has become the first country in the world to establish photon entanglement at a distance of more than 1,200 kilometers, paving the way for ultrasecure, long-distance quantum communication. In July, Beijing and Vienna will try to conduct the world's first cross-continental video call using Micius, the world's first quantum communication satellite launched by China last year. It will take more than a decade for such technologies to reach the public, scientists said. |