Quantum communication - the way to communicate in the future

In recent years, network security issues have become increasingly prominent, and traditional secure communication technologies are facing great challenges. Quantum communication has attracted much attention because of its "unconditional security". After nearly ten years of development, quantum communication technology is stepping from laboratory demonstration to industrial application and developing rapidly.

 

 

 

Quantum communication refers to a new type of communication method that uses quantum entanglement effect to transmit information. Quantum communication is a new interdisciplinary subject and a new research field combining quantum theory and information theory. Compared with classical communication, quantum communication has powerful advantages such as unconditional security, strong anti-interference ability and transmission ability, and extremely high transmission efficiency.

 

Quantum computing technology is the most cutting-edge technology research and development field. In 2013, the quantum teleportation research project hosted by Professor Pan Jianwei of the University of Science and Technology of China measured that the transmission speed of quantum entanglement is at least 4 orders of magnitude higher than the speed of light. Recently, scientists have demonstrated another possibility for quantum communication: the same photon can be both the sender and receiver of information. This was also previously unknown, and the new discovery will have even greater impact in the field of quantum communications. The mechanisms behind quantum communication are still being studied, but we can already outline the more efficient and secure future it will bring.

 

1. Development Status of Quantum Communication

 

(1) Quantum communication leads many countries in the world to compete for deployment

 

Quantum communication has great application value and prospects in key fields such as military, national defense, and finance. It can be used not only for national-level confidential communications in military, national defense, and other fields, but also for banking, securities, insurance, government, Telecommunications, industry and commerce, local taxation, finance and other fields and departments. As the technology matures, the future market will have a large capacity. In recent years, the policy support and project layout of quantum communication research and application in many countries in the world have been fully launched, and the competition situation has become increasingly obvious.

 

The United States continues to support cutting-edge research and applications such as quantum communication and quantum computing through projects such as the "Quantum Information Science and Technology Development Plan", with an annual research funding of 200 million US dollars.

 

Japan established the Quantum Information and Communication Research Promotion Association, which plans to invest 40 billion yen within ten years to support research and development in the fields of quantum communication and computing.

 

The European Union announced the "Quantum Declaration", investing 1 billion euros to support research and application promotion in the four major fields of quantum computing, communication, simulation and sensing.

 

The UK released the "National Quantum Technology Plan", investing 270 million pounds to support four major research and development centers in quantum communication, sensing, imaging and computing.

 

The South Korean government announced that it will invest in telecom operator SKT to start building a quantum communication network covering the whole country in stages, and gradually adopt quantum encryption technology in government and commercial networks.

 

In the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" released in 2016, my country proposed to focus on building quantum communication and ubiquitous security Internet of Things, and listed quantum communication as a strategic emerging industry in a number of technology and information industry plans. In the same year, the Ministry of Science and Technology set up a key special project of "Quantum Control and Quantum Information" to deploy strategic frontier research in the fields of quantum communication and computing.

 

(2) The rapid development of my country's quantum communication technology

 

From a global perspective, my country's research and development of quantum communication technology leads the world. On August 16, 2016, the successful launch of the world's first quantum satellite "Mozi" independently developed by China has won a huge international reputation, which indicates that my country is standing at the top of quantum communication innovation. my country's research in the field of quantum communication is in the Internationally, it has reached an overall leading position. On September 29, 2017, the world's first quantum secure communication trunk line - the "Beijing-Shanghai trunk line" was officially opened. Combined with the "Mozi" satellite, Chinese scientists successfully realized the world's first intercontinental quantum secure communication with Austria. This marks that my country has built a prototype of a space-ground integrated wide-area quantum communication network.

 

With the advancement of pilot applications and network construction projects in recent years, my country's quantum secure communication industry has formed a corresponding industrial chain integrating technology research, system integration, construction operation and maintenance, and security applications. Since 2017, my country has carried out specific applications of quantum key distribution based on the construction of quantum communication trunk lines, promoted the further expansion of the trunk line scale, and carried out the construction and application of some metropolitan area networks. Market-oriented quantum communication projects and enterprises that truly target market-oriented operations have begun to emerge. Some top foreign companies have also accelerated their cooperation with Chinese quantum communication companies. In terms of quantum communication output technology and quantum industry layout, Chinese enterprises have strong development momentum, and industrial operations are relatively good, taking a leading position. In addition, my country's quantum communication A-share companies are also increasing, and the focus of each company is different, but overall it shows that my country's quantum industry supporting foundation and related technology commercialization have advantages.

 

 

 

In June 2017, the Ad Hoc Task Group on Quantum Communication and Information Technology of the China Communications Standards Association was established, which consists of two working groups, the Quantum Communication Working Group and the Quantum Information Processing Working Group, including 36 member units. The follow-up will strongly support the healthy development of my country's quantum communication technology and industrial applications. In the future, with the implementation of a number of major quantum communication projects, the state's investment in quantum communication will increase significantly. Analysts at Sage Times believe that with the full deployment of local area networks, wide area networks, and space international networks, the quantum communication market space is expected to reach nearly 100 billion.