Experimental single-photon exchange along a space link of 7000 km

Extending the single-photon transmission distance is a basic requirement for the implementation of quantum communication on a global scale. In this work we report the single-photon exchange from a medium Earth orbit satellite (MEO) at more than 7000 km of slant distance to the ground station at the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory. The single-photon transmitter was realized by exploiting the corner cube retroreflectors mounted on the LAGEOS-2 satellite. Long duration of data collection is possible with such altitude, up to 43 min in a single passage. The mean number of photons per pulse (μsat) has been limited to 1 for 200 s, resulting in an average detection rate of 3.0 counts/s and a signal-to-noise ratio of 1.5. The feasibility of single-photon exchange from MEO satellites paves the way to tests of quantum mechanics in moving frames and to global quantum Information.