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Effects of a nuclear disturbed environment on a quantum free space optical link...

by David A Hooper, Brandon A Wilson, Alexander Miloshevsky, Brian P Williams, Nicholas A Peters
Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Optics Express
Publication Date
Page Numbers
27254 to 27277
Volume
29
Issue
17

This manuscript investigates the potential effect of a nuclear-disturbed atmospheric environment on the signal attenuation of a ground/satellite transmitter/receiver system for both classical optical and quantum communications applications. Attenuation of a signal transmitted through the rising nuclear cloud and the subsequently transported debris is modeled climatologically for surface-level detonations of 10 kt, 100 kt, and 1 Mt. Attenuation statistics were collected as a function of time after detonation. These loss terms were compared to normal loss sources such as clouds, smoke from fires, and clear sky operation. Finally, the loss was related to the degradation of transmitted entanglement derived from Bayesian mean estimation.