Quantum science and technology is one of the focal points of global competition in the field of high technology, and a strategic area concerning national security and high-quality socio-economic development. When it comes to quantum technology, many people will first think of the Mozi.
In August 2016, the world's first quantum science experiment satellite, the Mozi, was successfully launched and successfully accomplished the set scientific objectives, establishing China's leading position in the field of quantum communication in one fell swoop. Today, at the Institute of Quantum Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, scientists are conducting further research on the micro-nano quantum satellite. Compared with the Mozi, how will the micro-nano quantum satellite further enhance the application of quantum confidential communication?
There are still at least two huge obstacles to overcome for the series of scientific research results achieved by the Mozi to move towards practical applications:
- One is to reduce the satellite launch cost through weight reduction;
- The second is to overcome the interference of sunlight during the day, from only working at night to full-time.
Now, the micro-nano quantum satellite "Jinan 1" has crossed the first obstacle.
At 12:12 on July 27, 2022, the world's first quantum nanosatellite "Jinan 1" was successfully launched on board the Power Arrow 1 launch vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The successful development of the "Jinan-1" quantum nanosatellite will enable China to realize real-time star-ground quantum key distribution between a nanosatellite and a miniaturized ground station for the first time in the world, and to build a low-cost and practical integrated quantum confidential communication network between heaven and earth.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Executive Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China Pan Jianwei: In July last year, we successfully launched the world's first micro-nano quantum satellite. Then after last July to now nearly a year's efforts, we have recently proved through experiments convinced that the cost of this micro-nano-satellite is only one-twentieth of the Mozi, but it is also able to carry out the quantum experiments on the star and the ground. The related scientific results will be released to our global counterparts in the near future.
Li Yang, associate professor at the University of Science and Technology of China: We are after about three years, and then developed a roughly 96 kilograms of the world's first quantum micro-nano-satellite, the satellite it compared with our previous Mercury, which includes the weight of the satellite, the weight of the payload are reduced to the original is about 1/6.
And to exclude the sunlight interference but has the common unimaginable difficulties. Quantum communication is carried by single photons, which are so weak that they are equivalent to a match struck on the moon from Earth. Night for the capture of single photon provides a favorable environment, to the daytime sunlight, the satellite launch photons on the annihilation of which, like a drop of rain fell into the sea. To this end, Pan Jianwei led the quantum communication team, from every factor that affects the photon heaven and earth to send and receive, through countless experiments, so that each indicator one by one to meet the technical requirements.
Zhu Xiaobo, Professor at the University of Science and Technology of China: We have seen acrobats, he threw a Frisbee in the sky, throwing one to catch one which is relatively easy, throwing two together to catch a little bit more difficult to throw three is even more difficult. The original can only throw more than two dozen, which has been quite quite difficult, because the international community and academia have been working for this for many, many years. From 2000 until the release of our results, the most we could do was 24, and now we can catch 51 Frisbees at once, and all of them are caught firmly.
In the eyes of Zhu Xiaobo, the pursuit of precision of quantum bits is a dance on the tip of a knife, because the energy of a quantum bit is only one billion billionth of the energy needed for a butterfly to flap its wings, and it can't withstand any perturbation.
An electron flipping over, a photon passing by, etc., are all single-particle-scale noises that can cause its entire system to collapse.
The foundation for all of this is a deep understanding of the source of each noise, and then avoiding its effects. Only when the foundation is firmly laid can the scientific and technological edifice of quantum computing be built stably.
Now, the quantum computing team led by Pan Jianwei hopes to be able to coherently manipulate hundreds of quantum bits through five to ten years of hard work, used to construct a dedicated quantum simulator. For some complex physical systems, such as high-temperature superconductivity mechanism, new material design and other current supercomputers can not calculate the problem, the quantum simulator to carry out calculations. While solving some practical problems, we should not only firmly occupy the first square of quantum computing, but also become the leader in some fields.
Reference link:
[1]http://www.jinan.gov.cn/art/2022/7/28/art_1812_4924314.html
[2]https://www.sohu.com/a/700691124_121284943
[3]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ntELoy8swN__9_fXLy3y7A
