Quantum-limited measurements of optical signals from a geostationary satellite

@article{Gnthner2016QuantumlimitedMO,
  title={Quantum-limited measurements of optical signals from a geostationary satellite},
  author={Kevin G{\"u}nthner and Imran Khan and Dominique Elser and Birgit Stiller and {\"O}mer Bayraktar and Christian R. M{\"u}ller and Karen Saucke and Daniel Tr{\"o}ndle and Frank Heine and Stefan Seel and Peter Greulich and Herwig Zech and Bj{\"o}rn G{\"u}tlich and Ines Richter and Michael Lutzer and Sabine Philipp-May and Rolf Meyer and Christoph Marquardt and Gerd Leuchs},
  journal={ArXiv},
  year={2016},
  volume={abs/1608.03511}
}
The measurement of quantum signals that traveled through long distances is of fundamental and technological interest. We present quantum-limited coherent measurements of optical signals, sent from a satellite in geostationary Earth orbit to an optical ground station. We bound the excess noise that the quantum states could have acquired after having propagated 38600 km through Earth's gravitational potential as well as its turbulent atmosphere. Our results indicate that quantum communication is… 
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