D. Dequal1, G. Vallone1, D. Bacco1, S. Gaiarin1, V. Luceri2, G. Bianco3, P. Villoresi1
Phys. Rev. A, 010301(R) (2016)
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevA.93.010301
1Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, via Gradenigo 6/B, 35131 Padova, Italy
2e-GEOS spa, Matera 75100, Italy
3Matera Laser Ranging Observatory, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Matera 75100, Italy
The unprecedented single photon exchange with a MEO satellite range was annoucend in a manuscript posted in Sep. 2015 in the ArXiv with number [arXiv:1509.05692] by Daniele Dequal, Giuseppe Vallone, Davide Bacco, Simone Gaiarin, Vincenza Luceri, Giuseppe Bianco, and Paolo Villoresi. The satellite distance was more than 7000 km to the ground station at the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory. The single photon transmitter was realized by exploiting the corner cube retro-reflectors mounted on the LAGEOS-2 satellite. Long duration of data collection is possible with such altitude, up to 43 minutes in a single passage.