INDUSTRY NEWS
QKD ready for deployment over 300km fibre links
Toshiba Europe Ltd. and Single Quantum B.V. have collaborated to validate and test long-distance deployments of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology. Following extended validation testing of Toshiba’s QKD technology and Single Quantum’s superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), the companies say they have extended the transmission range for QKD deployment over
fibre connections up to and beyond 300km. The QKD solution can be deployed over fibre networks,
loss of the fibre link). To provide extended QKD transmission, operators typically concatenate fibre links together with trusted nodes along the fibre route which house QKD systems that relay the secret keys. However, the use of multiple trusted nodes may not be practical or desirable along certain networks, such as marine fibre links, cross-border fibre optic links and terrestrial links in locations where suitable buildings cannot
be found, such as in remote areas. To address this challenge, Toshiba and Single Quantum have used Single Quantum’s SNSPDs to detect single photons accurately over higher optical loss fibre links, significantly extending the QKD transmission distance over a single fibre optic link in a compact, stackable and rack mountable solution. Toshiba has been steadily developing a QKD solution since the first trials in 2018.
either coexisting with conventional
data transmissions on deployed ‘lit’ fibres, or on dedicated quantum fibres. Toshiba says achieving longer distance QKD fibre transmission is challenging due to the attenuation of the quantum signals along the fibre length, (the optical
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ISSUE 37 | Q2 2024
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