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It Broke Our Hearts to Lose You, Jon

We are terribly saddened to learn that our dear friend, Professor Jonathan P. Dowling passed away. Jon has been a renowned pioneer in quantum optics, quantum metrology, optical quantum computing, and quantum communications. With his foresight, Jon was the first one who invented the term and predicted the “quantum technology: the second quantum revolution” in as early as 2003 in his article published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, which has been widely used now.

[Physics] Highlights of the Year

Researchers in China and Austria used a satellite link to hold the first intercontinental videoconference protected by quantum cryptography (see Focus: Intercontinental, Quantum-Encrypted Messaging and Video). The data security was provided by quantum key distribution (QKD), which exchanges cryptographic keys that are encoded in quantum-entangled photons. Long-distance QKD has been previously demonstrated on terrestrial networks of optical fibers, but optical losses in the fibers had limited the communication distance to a few hundred kilometers. Exploiting the undisturbed propagation of photons in space, the satellite experiment involved two stations that were 7600 km apart. Exchanging secret keys at kilohertz rates, the teams were able to send quantum encrypted images and to hold a secure videoconference that lasted 75 minutes and required 2 gigabytes of data. The demonstration is good news for those who envision a “quantum internet” built around a global network of ground stations and satellites.

[Global Times] Chinese Physicists’ Quantum Achievement Signals Dawn of Supercomputer

Chinese physicists realized a genuine entanglement of 18 quantum particles, beating their own world record set in 2016, while the team has set their next goal at 50-qubit entanglement.　
The result of the study was published in the US journal Physical Review Letters on June 28.
Chinese leading quantum physicist PAN Jianwei led the project. Together with his team, PAN earlier demonstrated quantum entanglement with 10 quantum bits, or "qubits," in 2016, according to a report sent by PAN's team to Global Times on Tuesday.

The 2017 Nature’s 10 – Father of Quantum, PAN Jianwei

The 2017 Nature’s 10 – Nature’s annual list of ten people who mattered in science in the past year – appears in the journal this week. “From quantum communications and genome editing to the threat of a nuclear crisis and the dismantling of environmental protections in the United States, this list covers the highs and lows for science and scientists in 2017,” says Brendan Maher, acting chief news features editor at Nature. 

[Physics World] Beijing and Vienna have a quantum conversation

A quantum cryptography key has been shared between Beijing and Vienna using a satellite – allowing the presidents of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Austrian Academy of Sciences to communicate via a secure video link. The call was made earlier today using China's Micius quantum-communications satellite, which was launched in 2016 and orbits about 500 km above Earth.

[Xinhua] Quantum communication experiments lead China's sci-tech innovation

BEIJING - As the first to achieve quantum key distribution from a satellite to the ground, China is confident in making more scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The achievement, based on experiments conducted with the world's first quantum satellite -- Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), lays a foundation for building a hack-proof global quantum communication network.

QUESS, nicknamed "Micius" after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist, was launched on Aug. 16, 2016.