Quantum sources for satellite missions
After multiple years of prototyping, testing, and simulating the conditions of outer space in labs at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), Dr. Thomas Jennewein and members of his research group are celebrating their next big milestone — their quantum source is finished and ready to be incorporated into the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat). The quantum source, called by the project’s full name, Reference-Frame Independent Quantum Communication for Satellite-Based Networks (ReFQ), is the result of a joint collaboration between Canada and the United Kingdom.