title: Experimental free-space distribution of entangled photon pairs over 13 km: towards satellite-based global quantum communication.
abstract: We report free-space distribution of entangled photon pairs over a noisy ground atmosphere of 13 km. It is shown that the desired entanglement can still survive after both entangled photons have passed through the noisy ground atmosphere with a distance beyond the effective thickness of the aerosphere. This is confirmed by observing a spacelike separated violation of Bell inequality of 2.45+/-0.09. On this basis, we exploit the distributed entangled photon source to demonstrate the Bennett-Brassard 1984 quantum cryptography scheme. The distribution distance of entangled photon pairs achieved in the experiment is for the first time well beyond the effective thickness of the aerosphere, hence presenting a significant step towards satellite-based global quantum communication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Modern Physics and Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Zhi
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiao-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xian-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Fa-Yong
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bao-Li
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jian-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Pan