As reported in Nature, GÉANT, Toshiba Europe limited, PSNC and Anglia Ruskin University came together to work on the first major in-the-field demonstration of practical quantum communications using telecoms standard equipment and infrastructure.
The experiment was conducted in Germany, with access to the network infrastructure provided by GÉANT. Communication was established over a link spanning 253.9 km between Frankfurt and Kehl with a 56.0 dB loss and a relay in Kirchfeld, approximately three-fifths of the way. This setup forms a star-shaped quantum network with three nodes: two transmitters, at the network’s edge, and a central relay receiver.