Long range beam propagation for quantum communications

The study of the free-space propagation of quantum correlations is necessary for any future application of quantum communication aiming to connect two remote locations. Here we study the propagation of a coherent laser beam over over 144 Km (between Tenerife and La Palma Islands of the Canary archipelagos). By attenuating the beam we also studied the propagation at the single photon level. We investigated the statistic of arrival of the incoming photons and the scintillation of the beam.