Phys.org January 18, 2021
Researchers in China built a small laser-generating device and affixed it to one of the drones. As it fired, photons were split in two, creating entangled pairs. One of the paired photons was directed toward another drone while the other was directed to a ground station. The drone that received the entangled photon served only as a relay—after refocusing, the photon was forwarded to a third drone, which then sent it to a second ground station. Motorized devices were used on the drones to ensure transmitters and received lined up properly for transmission of the entangled photons. In demonstration the photons were sent just one kilometer, but the researchers suggest that moving the drones higher would allow for transmission over distances up to 300 kilometers. According to the researchers the technology could also be adapted to include moving vehicles on the ground and both the drones, and the ground stations could also be connected to a network that included satellites…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Target acquisition. The beams from one drone are visible over the testing area. Credit: X.-H. Tian, H.-Y. Liu, & Z. Xie/Nanjing Univ.