Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat)

Padlocks are circling the earth from outer space, connecting by satellite pathways. The letters QEYSSAT are in the bottom right hand corner, representing the Quantum Encryption Science Satellite mission.

Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) researcher Thomas Jennewein is pioneering new applications for quantum technologies, in particular quantum communications networks in space. Jennewein is the Science Team Lead of the Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission.

What is the QEYSSat Mission?

The Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission, funded by the Canadian Space Agency (ASC/CSA) & with an anticipated launch in 2023, will be a technology demonstration platform to study quantum links and Quantum Key Distribution for ground-to-space communication with quantum ground stations across Canada and internationally.
QEYSSat is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite with a Quantum Receiver & Transmitter, capable of exchanging quantum-encoded photons with a quantum ground station via line-of-sight freespace link. Read more in QEYSSat: a mission proposal for a quantum receiver in space.

Quantum Key Distribution Payload appears on the right, and the Optical Communication Payload is on the left. Citation: A. Scott, T. Jennewein, J. Cain, I. D'Souza, B. Higgins, D. Hudson, H. Podmore, W. Soh, "The QEYSSAT mission: on-orbit demonstration of secure optical communications network technologies," Proc. SPIE 11532, Environmental Effects on Light Propagation and Adaptive Systems III, 115320H (2020).

What is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)?

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is the generation of encryption keys between two users (typically called ‘Alice’ and ‘Bob’) whose security is based on the principles of quantum physics, such that information cannot be copied or manipulated without being noticed.
If an eavesdropper tries to hack the quantum channel, it will disturb the photons, revealing the attack.

Why do we need QKD?

Future advances in quantum computing could make current public-key encryption methods vulnerable. The security of QKD is not based on the difficulty of solving mathematical problems, but instead based on physical processes. An encryption key generated from QKD that is secure today will remain secure against advances in computing power (i.e. key has “Forward Security”).
A quantum network will enable long-term data security, thus ensuring Canada’s sovereignty over the privacy of Canadians' public, private, and commercial data.

Why use satellites?

While quantum information can be sent over a few hundred kilometers using direct optical fiber links, larger distances require other approaches. Signal transmission in fiber decreases exponentially, and conventional amplification to compensate for the lost signal does not work for quantum information. Ground-based quantum repeaters are being developed, but are unlikely to enable Canada-wide links for the foreseeable future.
Satellites with quantum technologies onboard are critical components for a Canada-wide Quantum Network, and for building a global Quantum Internet.

Space quantum communication projects

QKD airborne demonstration - a plane sits in the hanger in Smith Falls, Ottawa with a team of researchers standing by. The space quantum science mission concepts build upon a series of relevant projects by IQC that have been generously supported by the CSA, DRDC, FedDev Ontario and other federal and provincial organizations including Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), Canada Foundation for Innovation/Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (CFI/MEDI), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR) and NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program.

In the fall of 2016 the team, supported by the National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) Flight Research Laboratory, successfully demonstrated quantum key distribution (QKD) between a transmitter on the ground and a receiver payload onboard an NRC Twin Otter Airborne Research Aircraft in the Smiths Falls, Ottawa area.

The QEYSSat mission was green-lit in 2017 when the Canadian government announced federal funding for quantum technologies in space. The IQC team has been working with partners in industry and academia to advance the QEYSSat microsatellite mission through a series of technical studies funded initially by Defense Research and Development Canada (DRDC) and subsequently by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). In 2017, the CSA named Thomas Jennewein as the QEYSSat Science Team Lead and awarded a science support contract for the QEYSSat mission. Honeywell Aerospace/COM DEV was selected to design and implement Phases B-E of the mission. Read more in Airborne demonstration of a quantum key distribution receiver payload.

Download the QEYSSat Overview.

Thomas Jennewein and his team preparing to test their Quantum Key Distribution Receiver

Principal Investigator Professor Thomas Jennewein with the Quantum Photonics Laboratory (QPL) team working on the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) transmitter telescope in dome for the "Free-space QKD to a moving receiver demonstration" in 2014.

Contacts

Research: Thomas Jennewein, Principal Investigator, Quantum Photonics Laboratory
Media: Kayleigh Platz, Senior Manager, Liaison and Integrated Communications, Institute for Quantum Computing

QEYSSat and QKD Videos

Watch video on YouTube

Project timeline

Launched in 2010 with the feasibility study on quantum entanglement experiments in space, the QEYSSat mission is supported through the projects and funding listed in bold below. These projects relate to the study of free-space quantum communication, in view of developing tools for a global Quantum Internet.

Current Grants/Funding

Project	Years	Funding
QEYSSat Science Team Support Contract - QEYSSat mission, Government of Canada	2017-present	Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
NSERC UK-Canada Alliance Grant Reference-Frame Independent Quantum Communication for Satellite-Based Networks (ReFQ) - Testing quantum-secure communication in space - Recipients of the Canada-UK Call for Proposals on Quantum Technologies	2020-2023	NSERC Alliance
QEYSSat 2.0 Project	2021-2022	NRC
Quantum Photonics Devices for a Quantum Internet	2020-2023	NSERC Department of National Defence (DND) Supplement grant
Quantum Photonics Devices for a Quantum Internet	2020-2025	NSERC Discovery
Facility for building, testing, and operating quantum satellites	2017-2021	Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Ontario Research Fund (ORF)
Deep Space Quantum Payload Radiation Impact Assessment for GEO and Deep Space Environments	2020-2022	CSA-FAST

Past Grants/Funding

Project	Years	Funding
Quantum Photonics Devices for Quantum Communications	2015-2020	NSERC Discovery
Building a Workforce for the Cryptographic Infrastructure of the 21st Century	2012-2020	NSERC CREATE
Quantum Information Program	2010-2019	CIFAR
Quantum-Signal Receiver enhanced by a Single-Photon Detector Array	2018-2019	DRDC
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Demonstration - Taking quantum key distribution out of the lab (video)	2018	Excelitas
Technologies for quantum communication satellites	2016-2019	CSA
QEYSSat Detector assembly + QKD Payload Elegant Breadboard (EBB) - IQC researcher awarded CSA contract to advance crucial technology for future quantum space mission	2016-2018	CSA-STDP
Towards quantum sensing with photons	2016-2017	NRC/DRDC
Acquisition, Pointing and Tracking (APT) System for QKD Payload - IQC completes project that points way to future quantum space mission	2014-2016	CSA-STDP
Facility for Global and Secure Quantum Communication	2013-2018	CFI & ORF/MEDI
Airborne QKD demonstration - Space-based quantum-secured communication prototype demonstration (video)	2013-2017	CSA
Quantum Key Distribution Receiver (QKDR) for QEYSSat - IQC advances quantum satellite mission	2013-2015	CSA
Entangled Sources for Ground-Based QKD	2013-2015	NSERC Research Tools and Instruments
QEYSSat Microsatellite Feasibility Study	2013-2015	CSA (Prime Contractor COMDEV)
Advancement of Satellite-Based Quantum Communications	2013-2014	FedDev Ontario
Acquisition, Pointing and Tracking (APT) for QEYSSat Study and Breadboarding	2012-2013	CSA (Prime Contractor COMDEV)
Satellite-Based Quantum Communication	2011-2015	Ontario MRI Early Researcher Award 2010
Canadian Quantum Communication Satellite: Concepts and Components	2011-2012	CSA
Facility for Operating and Testing Quantum Devices	2010-2015	CFI & ORF
Quantum Photonics Devices for Quantum Communications	2010-2015	NSERC Discovery
Feasibility Study on Quantum Entanglements Experiments in Space	2010-2011	CSA (Prime Contractor COMDEV)

In the media

05/11/21 - Testing quantum-secure communication in space

06/14/19 - Cybersecurity from space: the Government of Canada invests in quantum technology, Canadian Space Agency

03/18/19 - Space Strategy for Canada, Canadian Space Agency

12/19/17 - Press release from Canadian Space Agency

12/19/17 - Canadian Space Agency awards IQC $1.5M for encryption mission

04/27/17 - Press release from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

02/02/17 - Wired article by Sophia Chen

12/22/16 - "We've got photons!"

12/21/16 - Researchers successfully demonstrate prototype for space-based quantum-secured communication

12/20/16 - Globe and Mail article by Ivan Semeniuk

09/12/16 - IQC researchers successfully conduct airborne demonstration of quantum key distribution

05/05/16 - IQC researcher awarded CSA grant to demonstrate quantum communications technologies aboard student space mission

03/07/16 - IQC researcher awarded CSA contract to advance crucial technology for future quantum space mission

11/05/15 - IQC completes project that points the way to future quantum space mission

QEYSSat Scientific Publications

E. Meyer-Scott, Z. Yan, A. MacDonald, J-P. Bourgoin, H. Hübel and T. Jennewein, “How to implement decoy-state quantum key distribution for a satellite uplink with 50-dB channel loss,” Physical Review A 84, 062326 (2011). arXiv.
D. Rideout, T. Jennewein, G. Amelino-Camelia, T. F. Demarie, B. L. Higgins, A. Kempf, A. Kent, R. Laflamme, X. Ma, R. B. Mann, E. Martín-Martínez, N. C. Menicucci, J. Moffat, C. Simon, R. Sorkin, L. Smolin and D. R. Terno, “Fundamental quantum optics experiments conceivable with satellites – reaching relativistic distances and velocities,” Classical and Quantum Gravity 29, 224011 (2012). arXiv.
Z. Yan, E. Meyer-Scott, J-P. Bourgoin, B. L. Higgins, N. Gigov, A. MacDonald, H. Hübel and T. Jennewein, “Novel High-Speed Polarization Source for Decoy-State BB84 Quantum Key Distribution Over Free Space and Satellite Links,” Journal of Lightwave Technology 31, 1399 (2013). arXiv.
J-P. Bourgoin, E. Meyer-Scott, B. L. Higgins, B. Helou, C. Erven, H. Hübel, B. Kumar, D. Hudson, I. D'Souza, R. Girard, R. Laflamme and T. Jennewein, "A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication," New Journal of Physics 15, 023006 (2013). arXiv.
C. Holloway, J. A. Doucette, C. Erven, J-P. Bourgoin and T. Jennewein, “Optimal pair-generation rate for entanglement-based quantum key distribution,” Physical Review A 87, 022342 (2013). arXiv.
T. Jennewein, J-P. Bourgoin, B. Higgins, C. Holloway, E. Meyer-Scott, C. Erven, B. Heim, Z. Yan, H. Hübel, G. Weihs, E. Choi, I. D'Souza, D. Hudson and R. Laflamme, "QEYSSAT: a mission proposal for a quantum receiver in space", Proc. SPIE 8997, Advances in Photonics of Quantum Computing, Memory, and Communication VII, 89970A (2014).
S. Sajeed, P. Chaiwongkhot, J-P. Bourgoin, T. Jennewein, N. Lütkenhaus and V. Makarov, “Security loophole in free-space quantum key distribution due to spatial-mode detector-efficiency mismatch,” Physical Review A 91, 062301 (2015). arXiv.
J-P. Bourgoin, N. Gigov, B. L. Higgins, Z. Yan, E. Meyer-Scott, A. K. Khandani, N. Lütkenhaus and T. Jennewein, “Experimental quantum key distribution with simulated ground-to-satellite photon losses and processing limitations,” Physical Review A 92, 052339 (2015). arXiv.
J-P. Bourgoin, B. L. Higgins, N. Gigov, C. Holloway, C. J. Pugh, S. Kaiser, M. Cranmer and T. Jennewein, “Free-space quantum key distribution to a moving receiver,” Optics Express 23, 33437 (2015). arXiv.
C. J. Pugh, S. Kaiser, J-P. Bourgoin, J. Jin, N. Sultana, S. Agne, E. Anisimova, V. Makarov, E. Choi, B. L. Higgins and T. Jennewein, "Airborne demonstration of a quantum key distribution receiver payload," Quantum Science and Technology 2, 024009 (2017). arXiv.
E.Anisimova, B. L. Higgins, J-P. Bourgoin, M. Cranmer, E. Choi, D. Hudson, L. P. Piche, A. Scott, V. Makarov and T. Jennewein, “Mitigating radiation damage of single photon detectors for space applications,” EPJ Quantum Technology 4, 10 (2017). arXiv.
J. G. Lim, E. Anisimova, B. L. Higgins, J-P. Bourgoin, T. Jennewein and V. Makarov, “Laser annealing heals radiation damage in avalanche photodiodes,” EPJ Quantum Technology 4, 11 (2017). arXiv.
P. V. Pereira Pinheiro, P. Chaiwongkhot, S. Sajeed, R. T. Horn, J-P. Bourgoin, T. Jennewein, N. Lütkenhaus and V. Makarov, “Eavesdropping and countermeasures for backflash side channel in quantum cryptography,” Optics Express 26, 21020 (2018). arXiv.
R. Tannous, Z. Ye, J. Jin, K. B. Kuntz, N. Lütkenhaus and T. Jennewein, “Demonstration of a 6 state-4 state reference frame independent channel for quantum key distribution,” Applied Physics Letters 115, 211103 (2019). arXiv.
P. Chaiwongkhot, K. B. Kuntz, Y. Zhang, A. Huang, J-P. Bourgoin, S. Sajeed, N. Lütkenhaus, T. Jennewein and V. Makarov, “Eavesdropper’s ability to attack a free-space quantum-key-distribution receiver in atmospheric turbulence,” Physical Review A 99, 062315 (2019). arXiv.
J. Jin, J-P. Bourgoin, R. Tannous, S. Agne, C. J. Pugh, K. B. Kuntz, B. L. Higgins and T. Jennewein. “Genuine time-bin-encoded quantum key distribution over a turbulent depolarizing free-space channel,” Optics Express 27, 37214 (2019). arXiv.
A. Scott, T. Jennewein, J. Cain, I. D'Souza, B. L. Higgins, D. Hudson, H. Podmore and W. Soh, "The QEYSSAT mission: on-orbit demonstration of secure optical communications network technologies," Proc. SPIE 11532, Environmental Effects on Light Propagation and Adaptive Systems III, 115320H (2020).
B. L. Higgins, J-P. Bourgoin and T. Jennewein, “Numeric estimation of resource requirements for a practical polarization-frame alignment scheme for quantum key distribution (QKD),” Advanced Optical Technologies 9, 253 (2020). arXiv.
C. J. Pugh, J-F. Lavigne, J-P. Bourgoin, B. L. Higgins and T. Jennewein, “Adaptive optics benefit for quantum key distribution uplink from ground to a satellite,” Advanced Optical Technologies 9, 263 (2020). arXiv.
I. DSouza, J-P. Bourgoin, B. L. Higgins, J. G. Lim, R. Tannous, S. Agne, B. Moffat, V. Makarov and T. Jennewein, “Repeated radiation damage and thermal annealing of avalanche photodiodes,” EPJ Quantum Technology 8, 13 (2021). arXiv.

Quantum Photonics Laboratory

QPL Quantum Photonics Laboratory. QEYSSat Science Team Principal Investigator Thomas Jennewein is an IQC faculty member and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and leads the Quantum Photonics Laboratory (QPL). The research of the QPL group centers on the applications of quantum photonics and quantum optics, as well as the fundamental aspects of the quantum world. The research group is involved in the experimental design and demonstrations of quantum photonics devices suitable for communication and computing with photons, and the development of ultra-long distance quantum communication systems using terrestrial and satellite-based systems. They are developing photonic quantum entanglement sources for various quantum protocols, and have pioneered the direct generation of three photon entangled states from cascaded parametric down conversion.