Feasibility study for next-generation light source for Satellite Quantum Key Distribution

量子计算机很快就会强大到足以在几秒钟内破解当前的加密协议--这是对所有行业、政府和个人的全球威胁。量子密码学提供了一种强大的解决方案。各国政府现在正在采取行动-仅在2018年秋季，整个欧洲就宣布了对量子技术公司超过20亿GB的公共投资。已经上市的量子加密解决方案之一是量子密钥分发(QKD)。在这里，用于加密消息的密钥被从A发送到B，编码在量子对象中：以单光子形式。实现远距离量子密钥分配的最有效方式是通过卫星。地面光纤最有可能实现短距离。实施卫星量子密钥分配(SatQKD)的努力已经开始，世界各地有21次以上的任务，包括政府、空间机构、初创企业和老牌工业参与者。卫星QKD面临的主要问题是通信速率低。目前所有的卫星QKD任务都使用激光作为光子源。激光在传输单光子方面装备不佳(相反，其设计是为了传输数万亿个光子)，产生的低速率将导致早期的数据传输瓶颈。此外，它们通常是大而耗电的物体。最近从剑桥大学衍生出来的Nu Quantum已经开发出一种制造真正的单光子源的方法并获得了专利。据预测，每一种光源的发射速率都比激光高10倍以上。此外，我们的技术允许每平方厘米容纳数百个源，它是芯片上的，具有低功耗要求。这项技术将成为高通量、下一代卫星QKD的关键推动因素。该项目将允许NU Quantum与剑桥大学作为学术合作伙伴(物理和材料科学系)，为SatQKD运行这些源的性能的关键可行性研究。这是世界上首次尝试将真正的量子光源用于SatQKD。商业合作伙伴Dot Quantum，QKD专家和量子密码学顾问，将对源进行建模，以现有解决方案为基准。该项目还包括一份专注于用户需求的市场战略报告，该报告将为Nu Quantum的开发计划提供信息，以筹集私人投资。这是Space Tech、CyberSecurity和Quantum之间有趣的交叉点上的商业机会。

"Quantum computers will soon be powerful enough to crack current encryption protocols in seconds - a global threat to all industries, governments and individuals. Quantum cryptography provides a robust solution. Governments are acting now - only within Autumn 2018, over £2 bn public investments in Quantum Technologies have been announced across Europe.One of the already-marketed quantum cryptography solutions is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Here, secret keys used to encrypt messages, are sent from A to B encoded in quantum objects: in single-photons. The most efficient way of achieving long-distance QKD is via Satellite. Ground-based optic fibre will most-likely enable short distances.Efforts towards the implementation of Satellite QKD (SatQKD) have started, with over 21 missions across the world encompassing governments, space agencies, start-ups and established industrial players.The main problem faced by SatQKD is the low rates of communication. All current SatQKD missions use lasers as photon sources. Lasers are ill-equipped to deliver single-photons (instead were designed to deliver trillions of them), yielding low rates that will result in an early data transfer bottleneck. In addition, they are usually large and power-hungry objects.Nu Quantum, recent spin-out from the University of Cambridge, has developed and patented a method to fabricate true single-photon sources. Each source is predicted to deliver over 10x higher rates than a laser. Further, our technology allows to fit hundreds of sources per square centimetre, it is on-a-chip and has low power requirements.This technology will be the key enabler of high-throughput, next-generation Satellite QKD.This project will allow Nu Quantum, with the University of Cambridge as academic partner (Physics and Materials Science Departments), to run a key feasibility study on the performance of these sources for SatQKD. This is the world's first attempt to use true quantum light sources for SatQKD. Commercial partner Dot Quantum, QKD expert and quantum cryptography consultant, will model the sources to benchmark against existing solutions. The project also includes a market strategy report focused on user needs, which will inform Nu Quantum's exploitation plan towards raising private investment.A commercial opportunity at the interesting intersection between Space Tech, Cybersecurity and Quantum."