Quantum communication is a method that offers efficient and secure ways for the exchange of information in a network. Large-scale quantum communication (of the order of 100 km) has been achieved; however, serious problems occur beyond this distance scale, mainly due to inevitable photon loss in the transmission channel. Quantum communication eventually fails when the probability of a dark count in the photon detectors becomes comparable to the probability that a photon is correctly detected. To overcome this problem, Briegel, Dür, Cirac and Zoller (BDCZ) introduced the concept of quantum repeaters, combining entanglement swapping and quantum memory to efficiently extend the achievable distances. Although entanglement swapping has been experimentally demonstrated, the implementation of BDCZ quantum repeaters has proved challenging owing to the difficulty of integrating a quantum memory. Here we realize entanglement swapping with storage and retrieval of light, a building block of the BDCZ quantum repeater. We follow a scheme that incorporates the strategy of BDCZ with atomic quantum memories. Two atomic ensembles, each originally entangled with a single emitted photon, are projected into an entangled state by performing a joint Bell state measurement on the two single photons after they have passed through a 300-m fibre-based communication channel. The entanglement is stored in the atomic ensembles and later verified by converting the atomic excitations into photons. Our method is intrinsically phase insensitive and establishes the essential element needed to realize quantum repeaters with stationary atomic qubits as quantum memories and flying photonic qubits as quantum messengers.
Photon-efficient quantum repeater chains via hyperentanglement-assisted purification
University of Pisa（比萨大学）；Institute for Informatics and Telematics (IIT), National Research Council (CNR)（意大利国家研究委员会信息与遥测研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学物理系）；National Institute of Optics (INO), National Research Council (CNR)（意大利国家研究委员会光学国家研究所）
The rate at which quantum communication tasks can be performed using direct transmission is fundamentally hindered by the channel loss. Quantum repeaters allow, in principle, to overcome these limitations, but their introduction necessarily adds an additional layer of complexity to the distribution of entanglement. This additional complexity - along with the stochastic nature of processes such as entanglement generation, Bell swaps, and entanglement distillation - makes finding good quantum repeater schemes non-trivial. We develop an algorithm that can efficiently perform a heuristic optimisat…
The quantum repeater protocol is a promising approach to implement long-distance quantum communication and large-scale quantum networks. A key idea of the quantum repeater protocol is to use long-lived quantum memories to achieve efficient entanglement connection between different repeater segments with a polynomial scaling. Here we report an experiment which realizes efficient connection of two quantum repeater segments via on-demand entanglement swapping by the use of two atomic quantum memories with storage time of tens of milliseconds. With the memory enhancement, scaling-changing accelera…
We study the feasibility of meaningful proof-of-principle demonstrations of several quantum repeater protocols with photon (single-photon and photon-pair) sources and atomic-ensemble based quantum memories. We take into account non-unit memory efficiencies that decay exponentially with time, which complicates the calculation of repeater rates. We discuss implementations based on quantum dots, parametric down-conversion, rare-earth-ion doped crystals, and Rydberg atoms. Our results provide guidance for the near-term implementation of long-distance quantum repeater demonstrations, suggesting tha…
Quantum communication is a secure way to transfer quantum information and to communicate with legitimate parties over distant places in a network. Although communication over a long distance has already been attained, technical problem arises due to unavoidable loss of information through the transmission channel. Quantum repeaters can extend the distance scale using entanglement swapping and purification scheme. Here we demonstrate the working of a quantum repeater by the above two processes. We use IBM's real quantum processor `ibmqx4' to create two pair of entangled qubits and design an equ…
A proposal for fast-switching broadband frequency-shifting technology making use of frequency conversion in a nonlinear crystal is set forth, whereby the shifting is imparted to the converted photons by creating a bank of frequency-displaced pump modes that can be selected by a photonic switch and directed to the nonlinear crystal. Proof-of-principle results show that the expected frequency-shifting operation can be achieved. Even though the dimensions of the currently employed crystal and significant excess loss in the experimental setup prevented conversion of single-photon-level inputs, tho…
We report an experimental realization of entanglement concentration using two polarization-entangled photon pairs produced by pulsed parametric down-conversion. In the meantime, our setup also provides a proof-in-principle demonstration of a quantum repeater. The quality of our procedure is verified by observing a violation of Bell's inequality by more than 5 standard deviations. The high experimental accuracy achieved in the experiment implies that the requirement of tolerable error rate in multi-stage realization of quantum repeaters can be fulfilled, hence providing a practical toolbox for …
Quantum repeaters -- important components of a scalable quantum internet -- enable the entanglement to be distributed over long distances. The standard paradigm for a quantum repeater relies on a necessary demanding requirement of quantum memory. Despite significant progress, the limited performance of quantum memory makes practical quantum repeaters still a great challenge. Remarkably, a proposed all-photonic quantum repeater avoids the need for quantum memory by harnessing the graph states in the repeater nodes. Here we perform an experimental demonstration of an all-photonic quantum repeate…
We analyze how the performance of a quantum-repeater network depends on the protocol employed to distribute entanglement, and we find that the choice of repeater-to-repeater link protocol has a profound impact on communication rate as a function of hardware parameters. We develop numerical simulations of quantum networks using different protocols, where the repeater hardware is modeled in terms of key performance parameters, such as photon generation rate and collection efficiency. These parameters are motivated by recent experimental demonstrations in quantum dots, trapped ions, and nitrogen-…
Optical telecommunication is at the heart of today's internet and is currently enabled by the transmission of intense optical signals between remote locations. As we look to the future of telecommunication, quantum mechanics promise new ways to be able to transmit and process that information. Demonstrations of quantum key distribution and quantum teleportation using multi-photon states have been performed, but only over ranges limited to one hundred kilometers. To go beyond this, we need repeaters that are compatible with these quantum multi-photon continuous variables pulses. Here we present…
Twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) fundamentally alters the rate-distance relationship of QKD, offering the scaling of a single-node quantum repeater. Although recent experiments have demonstrated the new opportunities for secure long-distance communications allowed by TF-QKD, formidable challenges remain to unlock its true potential. Previous demonstrations have required intense stabilisation signals at the same wavelength as the quantum signals, thereby unavoidably generating Rayleigh scattering noise that limits the distance and bit rate. Here, we introduce a novel dual-band sta…
In order for quantum communications systems to become widely used, it will probably be necessary to develop quantum repeaters that can extend the range of quantum key distribution systems and correct for errors in the transmission of quantum information. Quantum logic gates based on linear optical techniques appear to be a promising approach for the development of quantum repeaters, and they may have applications in quantum computing as well. Here we describe the basic principles of logic gates based on linear optics, along with the results from several experimental demonstrations of devices o…
Until quantum repeaters become mature, quantum networks remain restricted either to limited areas of directly connected nodes or to nodes connected to a common node. We circumvent this limitation by conceiving quantum networks using secure classical repeaters combined with the quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) principle, which is a compelling form of quantum communication that directly transmits information over quantum channel. The final component of this promising solution is our classical quantum-resistant algorithm. Explicitly, in these networks, the ciphertext gleaned from a quan…
Quantum aided Byzantine agreement (QBA) is an important distributed quantum algorithm with unique features in comparison to classical deterministic and randomized algorithms, requiring only a constant expected number of rounds in addition to giving higher level of security. In this paper, we analyze details of the high level multi-party algorithm, and propose elements of the design for the quantum architecture and circuits required at each node to run the algorithm on a quantum repeater network. Our optimization techniques have reduced the quantum circuit depth by 44\% and the number of qubits…
The ability to communicate quantum information over long distances is of central importance in quantum science and engineering. For example, it enables secure quantum key distribution (QKD) relying on fundamental principles that prohibit the "cloning" of unknown quantum states. While QKD is being successfully deployed, its range is currently limited by photon losses and cannot be extended using straightforward measure-and-repeat strategies without compromising its unconditional security. Alternatively, quantum repeaters, which utilize intermediate quantum memory nodes and error correction tech…
Networked entanglement is an essential component for a plethora of quantum computation and communication protocols. Direct transmission of quantum signals over long distances is prevented by fibre attenuation and the no-cloning theorem, motivating the development of quantum repeaters, designed to purify entanglement, extending its range. Quantum repeaters have been demonstrated over short distances, but error-corrected, global repeater networks with high bandwidth require new technology. Here we show that error corrected quantum memories installed in cargo containers and carried by ship can pr…
Memory-assisted measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MA-MDI-QKD) is a promising scheme that aims to improve the rate-versus-distance behavior of a QKD system by using the state-of-the-art devices. It can be seen as a bridge between current QKD links to quantum repeater based networks. While, similar to quantum repeaters, MA-MDI-QKD relies on quantum memory (QM) units, the requirements for such QMs are less demanding than that of probabilistic quantum repeaters. Here, we present a variant of MA-MDI-QKD structure that relies on only a single physical QM: a nitrogen-vacancy ce…
A Metropolitan-scale Multiplexed Quantum Repeater with Bell Nonlocality
University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学量子信息实验室）；Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Network, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学安徽省量子网络重点实验室）；CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学中国科学院量子信息与量子物理前沿卓越中心）；Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学合肥国家实验室）
A quantum repeater at telecommunications wavelengths with long-lived atomic memory is proposed, and its critical elements are experimentally demonstrated using a cold atomic ensemble. Via atomic cascade emission, an entangled pair of 1530 nm and 780 nm photons is generated. The former is ideal for long-distance quantum communication, and the latter is naturally suited for mapping to a long-lived atomic memory. Together with our previous demonstration of photonic-to-atomic qubit conversion, both of the essential elements for the proposed telecommunications quantum repeater have now been realize…
The twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol and its variants are highly attractive because they can beat the well-known rate-loss limit (i.e., the PLOB bound) for QKD protocols without quantum repeaters. In this paper, we perform a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of TF-QKD based on the protocol proposed by Curty et al. which removes from the original TF-QKD scheme the need for post-selection on the matching of a global phase, and can deliver nearly an order of magnitude higher secret key rate. Furthermore, we overcome the major difficulty in the practical implemen…
We present a light-storage experiment in a praseodymium-doped crystal where the light is mapped onto an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition shaped into an atomic frequency comb. After absorption of the light the optical excitation is converted into a spin-wave excitation by a control pulse. A second control pulse reads the memory (on-demand) by reconverting the spin-wave excitation to an optical one, where the comb structure causes a photon-echo type rephasing of the dipole moments and directional retrieval of the light. This combination of photon echo and spin-wave storage allows us …
Entanglement purification is to distill high-quality entangled states from low-quality entangled states. It is a key step in quantum repeaters, determines the efficiency and communication rates of quantum communication protocols, and is hence of central importance in long-distance communications and quantum networks. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of deterministic entanglement purification using polarization and spatial mode hyperentanglement. After purification, the fidelity of polarization entanglement arises from $0.268\pm0.002$ to $0.989\pm0.001$. Assisted wit…
Long-distance quantum communication through optical fibers is currently limited to a few hundreds of kilometres due to fiber losses. Quantum repeaters could extend this limit to continental distances. Most approaches to quantum repeaters require highly multimode quantum memories in order to reach high communication rates. The atomic frequency comb memory scheme can in principle achieve high temporal multimode storage, without sacrificing memory efficiency. However, previous demonstrations have been hampered by the difficulty of creating high-resolution atomic combs, which reduces the efficienc…
We demonstrate negative polarization created by light-hole exciton excitation in g-factor engineered GaAs quantum wells measured by time-resolved Kerr rotation and polarization-resolved photoluminescence. This negative polarization is a result of polarization transfer from a photon to an electron spin mediated by a light hole. This demonstration is an important step towards achieving quantum media conversion from a photonic qubit to an electron spin qubit required for building a quantum repeater.
Quantum network with a current telecom photonic infrastructure is deficient in quantum storages that keep arbitrary quantum state in sufficient time duration for a long-distance quantum communication with quantum repeater algorithms. Atomic quantum storages have achieved subsecond storage time corresponding to 1000 km transmission time for a telecom photon through a quantum repeater algorithm. However, the telecom photon is not directly accessible to typical atomic storages. Solid state quantum frequency conversions fill this wavelength gap and add more abilities, for example, a frequency mult…
The distribution of entangled states of light over long distances is a major challenge in the field of quantum information. Optical losses, phase diffusion and mixing with thermal states lead to decoherence and destroy the non-classical states after some finite transmission-line length. Quantum repeater protocols, which combine quantum memory, entanglement distillation and entanglement swapping, were proposed to overcome this problem. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of entanglement distillation in the continuous-variable regime. Entangled states were first disturbed by random …
Owing to the inevitable loss in communication channels, the distance of entanglement distribution is limited to approximately 100 kilometres on the ground. Quantum repeaters can circumvent this problem by using quantum memory and entanglement swapping. As the elementary link of a quantum repeater, the heralded distribution of two-party entanglement between two remote nodes has only been realized with built-in-type quantum memories. These schemes suffer from the trade-off between multiplexing capacity and deterministic properties and hence hinder the development of efficient quantum repeaters. …
Entanglement is the fundamental characteristic of quantum physics. Large experimental efforts are devoted to harness entanglement between various physical systems. In particular, entanglement between light and material systems is interesting due to their prospective roles as "flying" and stationary qubits in future quantum information technologies, such as quantum repeaters and quantum networks. Here we report the first demonstration of entanglement between a photon at telecommunication wavelength and a single collective atomic excitation stored in a crystal. One photon from an energy-time ent…
Quantum key distribution enables secure communication based on the principles of quantum mechanics. The distance in fiber-based quantum communication is limited to about a hundred kilometers due to signal attenuation. Thus, quantum repeaters are required to establish large-scale quantum networks. Ideal quantum repeater nodes possess a quantum memory which is efficiently connected to photons, the carrier of quantum information. Color centers in diamond and, in particular, the negatively-charged silicon-vacancy centers are promising candidates to establish such nodes. The major obstacle is an in…
We report the results of the implementation of a quantum key distribution (QKD) network using standard fibre communication lines in Moscow. The developed QKD network is based on the paradigm of trusted repeaters and allows a common secret key to be generated between users via an intermediate trusted node. The main feature of the network is the integration of the setups using two types of encoding, i.e. polarisation encoding and phase encoding. One of the possible applications of the developed QKD network is the continuous key renewal in existing symmetric encryption devices with a key refresh …
The answer to the question {\it How far can one send a photon?} depends heavily on what one means by {\it a photon} and on what one intends to do with that photon. For direct quantum communication the limit is of about 500 km. For terrestrial quantum communication, near future technologies based on quantum teleportation and quantum memories will soon enable quantum repeaters that will turn the development of a world-wide-quantum-web (WWQW) into a (highly non-trivial) engineering problem. For Device Independent Quantum Information Processing, near future qubit amplifiers (i.e. probabilistic her…
We report an experimental demonstration of entanglement swapping over two quantum stages. By successful realizations of two cascaded photonic entanglement swapping processes, entanglement is generated and distributed between two photons, that originate from independent sources and do not share any common past. In the experiment we use three pairs of polarization entangled photons and conduct two Bell-state measurements (BSMs) one between the first and second pair, and one between the second and third pair. This results in projecting the remaining two outgoing photons from pair 1 and 3 into an …
The faithful storage and coherent manipulation of quantum states with matter-systems enable the construction of large-scale quantum networks based on quantum repeater. To achieve useful communication rates, highly multimode quantum memories will be required to construct a multiplexed quantum repeater. Here, we present the first demonstration of the on-demand storage of orbital-angular-momentum states with weak coherent pulses at the single-photon-level in a rare-earth-ion doped crystal. Through the combination of this spatial degree-of-freedom with temporal and spectral degrees of freedom, we …
The ultimate aim of quantum key distribution (QKD) is improving the performance of transmission distance and key generation speed. Unfortunately, it is believed to be limited by the secret-key capacity of quantum channel without quantum repeater. Recently, a novel twin-field QKD (TFQKD) [Nature 557, 400 (2018)] is proposed to break through the limit, where the key rate is proportional to the square-root of channel transmittance. Here, by using the vacuum and one-photon state as a qubit, we show that the TF-QKD can be regarded as a measurement-device-independent QKD (MDI-QKD) with single-photon…
Twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) is highly attractive because it can beat the fundamental limit of secret key rate for point-to-point QKD without quantum repeaters. Many theoretical and experimental studies have shown the superiority of TFQKD in long-distance communication. All previous experimental implementations of TFQKD have been done over optical channels with symmetric losses. But in reality, especially in a network setting, the distances between users and the middle node could be very different. In this paper, we perform a first proof-of-principle experimental demonstratio…
Several vulnerabilities of single photon detectors have recently been exploited to compromise the security of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. In this letter we report the first proof-of-principle implementation of a new quantum key distribution protocol that is immune to any such attack. More precisely, we demonstrated this new approach to QKD in the laboratory over more than 80 km of spooled fiber, as well as across different locations within the city of Calgary. The robustness of our fibre-based implementation, together with the enhanced level of security offered by the protocol, con…
If a photon interacts with a member of an entangled photon pair via a so-called Bell-state measurement (BSM), its state is teleported over principally arbitrary distances onto the second member of the pair. Starting in 1997, this puzzling prediction of quantum mechanics has been demonstrated many times; however, with one very recent exception, only the photon that received the teleported state, if any, travelled far while the photons partaking in the BSM were always measured closely to where they were created. Here, using the Calgary fibre network, we report quantum teleportation from a teleco…
Quantum correlations between long lived quantum memories and telecom photons that can propagate with low loss in optical fibers are an essential resource for the realization of large scale quantum information networks. Significant progress has been realized in this direction with atomic and solid state systems. Here, we demonstrate quantum correlations between a telecom photon and a multimode on-demand solid state quantum memory. This is achieved by mapping a correlated single photon onto a spin collective excitation in a Pr$^{3+}$:Y$_2$SiO$_5$ crystal for a controllable time. The stored singl…
The sources, which generate atom-photon quantum correlations or entanglement based on quantum memory, are basic blocks for building quantum repeaters (QRs). For achieving highly entanglement-generation rates in ensemble-based QRs, spatial-, temporal- and spectral-multimode memories are needed. The previous temporal-multimode memories are based on rephrasing mechanisms in inhomogeneous-broadened media. Here, by applying a train of multi-direction write pulses into a homogeneous-broadened atomic ensemble to induce Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller-like Raman processes, we prepare up to 19 pairs of modes, …
Entanglement is the quintessential quantum phenomenon and a necessary ingredient in most emerging quantum technologies, including quantum repeaters, quantum information processing (QIP) and the strongest forms of quantum cryptography. Spin ensembles, such as those in liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance, have been powerful in the development of quantum control methods, however, these demonstrations contained no entanglement and ultimately constitute classical simulations of quantum algorithms. Here we report the on-demand generation of entanglement between an ensemble of electron and nuclea…
Quantum Teleportation toward the Quantum Internet: A Concise Review
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China（电子科技大学）；Southwest Institute of Technical Physics（西南技术物理研究所）；AMS（中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院）；Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory（天府江西实验室）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）
Future quantum networks will enable the distribution of entanglement between distant locations and allow applications in quantum communication, quantum sensing and distributed quantum computation. At the core of this network lies the ability of generating and storing entanglement at remote, interconnected quantum nodes. While remote physical systems of various nature have been successfully entangled, none of these realisations encompassed all of the requirements for network operation, such as telecom-compatibility and multimode operation. Here we report the demonstration of heralded entangleme…
Quantum memories for light, which allow the reversible transfer of quantum states between light and matter, are central to the development of quantum repeaters, quantum networks, and linear optics quantum computing. Significant progress has been reported in recent years, including the faithful transfer of quantum information from photons in pure and entangled qubit states. However, none of these demonstrations confirm that photons stored in and recalled from quantum memories remain suitable for two-photon interference measurements, such as C-NOT gates and Bell-state measurements, which constit…
Quantum information technology is set to transform critical network security using quantum cryptography, and complex scientific and engineering simulations with quantum computing. Quantum computer nodes may be based on a variety of systems, such as linear optics, ions, or solid state architectures such as NV-centers in diamond, semiconductor quantum dots or spins in silicon. Interfacing any of these platforms with photonic qubits in secure quantum networks will require quantum teleportation protocols to transfer the information, and matter-light teleportation has for some of these systems been…
Long-lived telecom-heralded single-photon storage in an absorptive spin-rephased quantum memory
ICFO - Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（光子科学研究所，巴塞罗那科学技术研究院）；ICREA – Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats（加泰罗尼亚高级研究学院）
Entanglement swapping across a five-node relay in a multiplexed quantum-classical network
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory（费米国家加速器实验室）；Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院物理、数学与天文学部）；Alliance for Quantum Technologies (AQT), California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院量子技术联盟）；Department of Physics, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María（智利弗雷德里科·圣塔玛丽亚理工大学物理系）；John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University（哈佛大学约翰·A·保尔森工程与应用科学学院）
