Which process limits the operational distance of entangled photon pairs in quantum key distribution systems?

💡 Explanation

When entangled photons travel long distances through the atmosphere, atmospheric turbulence causes interaction with air molecules, leading to decoherence of the entangled state because random phase shifts introduce errors. Therefore atmospheric turbulence limits the distance, rather than frequency shift, polarization drift, or diffraction, which have different impacts at that scale.

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