Quantum Key Distribution in-field implementations Technology assessment of QKD deployments Travagnin, Martino Lewis, Adam, M. 2019 EUR 29865 EN This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. Contact information Name: Adam M. Lewis Address: Centro Comune di Ricerca, Via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra (VA) ITALY Email: [email protected] Tel.: +39 0332 785786 EU Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRC118150 EUR 29865 EN PDF ISBN 978-92-76-11444-4 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2760/38407 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019 © European Union, 2019 The reuse policy of the European Commission is implemented by Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Reuse is authorised, provided the source of the document is acknowledged and its original meaning or message is not distorted. The European Commission shall not be liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse. For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not owned by the EU, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. All content © European Union, 2019, except figures, where the sources are stated How to cite this report: Travagnin, Martino and Lewis, Adam, M., “Quantum Key Distribution in-field implementations: technology assessment of QKD deployments”, EUR 29865 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-11444-4, doi:10.2760/38407, JRC118150 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 2 Executive summary ............................................................................................... 3 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 5 2 Asia ................................................................................................................. 6 2.1 China ......................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Japan ....................................................................................................... 10 2.3 South Korea .............................................................................................. 12 3 Europe ........................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Austria ..................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Switzerland ............................................................................................... 16 3.3 Italy ......................................................................................................... 18 3.4 Spain ....................................................................................................... 20 3.5 UK ........................................................................................................... 22 3.6 Russia ...................................................................................................... 24 3.7 Poland ...................................................................................................... 27 4 North America ................................................................................................. 27 4.1 USA ......................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Canada ..................................................................................................... 32 5 Southern Africa ............................................................................................... 34 5.1 South Africa .............................................................................................. 34 6 Summary Table ............................................................................................... 35 7 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 38 List of abbreviations ............................................................................................. 39 i Abstract This report briefly describes quantum key distribution field deployments worldwide. It updates the material presented in the JRC science for policy report EUR 29017 of 2017, and adds some technical details. Both terrestrial and satellite deployments are included, and both publicly funded and privately funded initiatives. The report forms part of a study to define a vision for a European quantum communications infrastructure, and its focus is on technology demonstrated in a relevant environment: theoretical work, laboratory-scale experimental research, and one-off, small-scale field pilots are therefore not covered. 1 Acknowledgements This work is part of JRC Work Package 6315 and was funded by the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, under Administrative Arrangement No. 35420-2019 with the JRC. Authors Martino Travagnin Adam M. Lewis 2 Executive summary Quantum-based techniques for communications security are slowly emerging as a complement to algorithmic and non-quantum physical layer methods. Use cases where quantum communication technology can provide undisputable advantages have still to be clearly identified, its current drawbacks being limitations of distance and quantum- channel bit rate, the need for specialist infrastructure and the difficulty of achieving end- to-end security. Intensive public research and development funding is being applied worldwide to overcome these difficulties, and several testbeds have now been deployed which are here surveyed. As a general rule, we have restricted the survey to networks of at least kilometre scale which have been operated over periods of at least several days, and we have excluded laboratory-scale demonstrations and brief scientific experiments over longer distances. Worldwide, a significant amount of experience with quantum communication deployments has already been acquired. Some of the deployments use hardware made in academic facilities but many employ equipment from companies such as QuantumCTek, China Quantum Technologies, ID Quantique, Toshiba and Huawei. The largest single network is in China, with a 2 000 km long backbone from Shanghai to Peking, with metropolitan networks in these cities and in Heifei and Jinan. Smaller deployments have also been made in Korea and in Japan, specifically in Tokyo. The Chinese and Japanese approaches reveal different priorities. In China, a large network has been built very quickly with technology which is ready now, whereas in Japan, work has focused on systematically evaluating the developing technology variants against use cases. Both countries have experimented with QKD in low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. A dedicated satellite was launched by China, to demonstrate the feasibility of several QKD prepare-and-measure and entanglement-based protocols; Japan has conducted a small- scale experiment on a non-dedicated satellite-mounted optical terminal, demonstrating that quantum communications with a quantum bit error rate low enough to enable QKD are possible, even with a microsatellite. In the EU, a landmark exercise in QKD field testing was conducted in the FP6 project SECoQC in 2008, in which 6 separate systems were deployed over a three day period in Vienna. The main importance of this work is that it showed the interoperability of different types of QKD system in a trusted node network. The largest fibre deployment in Europe is in Italy, with a network now extending almost the entire length of the peninsula from Turin to Milan and Matera. This is mostly based on commercial equipment and dark fibre, with some university-built hardware in a metro network in Florence. QKD experiments have actually been done only in some spans of the network; efforts to foster some take-up by prospective users are underway. The quantum communications network is used with separate in-fibre distribution of precise time from the INRiM metrology laboratory in Turin, enabling quantum-based assurance of a time stamp e.g. for financial transactions. Experiments have also been conducted with distribution via undersea fibre to Malta and passive reflection from LEO satellites of quantum signals sent from the Italian Space Agency’s Matera ground station. The first long term network both in Europe and worldwide was the SwissQuantum project, operating from March 2009 to January 2011, focused on performance, flexibility and reliability. The network included key management and application layers, as well as the quantum layer itself. 3 In Russia, test networks have been deployed in Moscow and St Petersburg. The Moscow work has focused on applications, especially in banking. The testbed in St Petersburg has been used to test a novel high speed protocol. A metropolitan network in Madrid has been used to develop concepts for employing QKD in software defined