Long-distance quantum communication presents a significant challenge as maintaining the fidelity of qubits can be difficult. This issue can be addressed through the use of quantum repeaters to transmit entanglement information through Bell measurements. However, despite its necessity to enable wide-area quantum internet, the deployment cost of quantum repeaters can be prohibitively expensive, thus it is important to develop a quantum repeater deployment model that can strike a balance between cost and effectiveness. In this work, we present novel heuristic models to quickly determine a minimum number of quantum repeaters to deploy in large-scale networks to provide end-to-end connectivity between all end hosts. The results show that, compared to the linear programming approach, the heuristic methods can find near-optimal solutions while reducing the execution time from days to seconds when evaluated against several synthetic and real-world networks such as SURFnet and ESnet. As reliability is key for any network, we also demonstrate that the heuristic method can determine deployment models that can endure up to two link/node failures.
The vision to develop quantum networks entails multi-user applications, which require the generation of long-distance multi-party entangled states. The current rapid experimental progress in building prototype-networks calls for new design concepts to guide future developments. Here we describe an experimentally feasible scheme implementing a two-dimensional repeater network for robust distribution of three-party entangled states of GHZ type in the presence of excitation losses and detector dark counts --- the main sources of errors in real-world hardware. Our approach is based on atomic or so…
Heralded single-photon sources with on-demand readout are promising candidates for quantum repeaters enabling long-distance quantum communication. The need for scalability of such systems requires simple experimental solutions, thus favouring room-temperature systems. For quantum repeater applications, long delays between heralding and single-photon readout are crucial. Until now, this has been prevented in room-temperature atomic systems by fast decoherence due to thermal motion. Here we demonstrate efficient heralding and readout of single collective excitations created in warm caesium vapou…
Scalable entanglement distribution using encoded hybrid repeater chains
University of Texas at Arlington（阿灵顿得克萨斯大学）；Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校曼宁信息学与计算机科学学院）；Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校电气与计算机工程系）
Scalable Repeater Architecture for Long-Range Quantum Energy Teleportation in Gapped Systems
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Al-Azhar University（爱资哈尔大学）；China Three Gorges University（三峡大学）；Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（伊朗基础科学研究所）；International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific, UCAS（亚太理论物理中心）
We study the implementation of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems over quantum repeater infrastructures. We particularly consider quantum repeaters with encoding and compare them with probabilistic quantum repeaters. To that end, we propose two decoder structures for encoded repeaters that not only improve system performance but also make the implementation aspects easier by removing two-qubit gates from the QKD decoder. By developing several scalable numerical and analytical techniques, we then identify the resilience of the setup to various sources of error in gates, measurement modules,…
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…
A building block of quantum repeaters for scalable quantum networks
University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale（合肥微尺度物质科学国家研究中心）；School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学物理学院）；Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Science（上海量子科学研究与创新中心）；CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics（中国科学院量子信息与量子物理学前沿卓越中心）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）
The construction of large-scale quantum networks relies on the development of practical quantum repeaters. Many approaches have been proposed with the goal of outperforming the direct transmission of photons, but most of them are inefficient or difficult to implement with current technology. Here, we present a protocol that uses a semi-hierarchical structure to improve the entanglement distribution rate while reducing the requirement of memory time to a range of tens of milliseconds. This protocol can be implemented with a fixed distance of elementary links and fixed requirements on quantum me…
We propose a heralded quantum repeater based on the scattering of photons off single emitters in one-dimensional waveguides. We show the details by implementing nonlocal entanglement generation, entanglement swapping, and entanglement purification modules with atoms in waveguides, and discuss the feasibility of the repeater with currently achievable technology. In our scheme, the faulty events can be discarded by detecting the polarization of the photons. That is, our protocols are accomplished with fidelity of 100% in principle, which is advantageous for implementing realistic long-distance q…
For scalable quantum communication and networks, a key step is to realize a quantum repeater node that can efficiently connect different segments of atom-photon entanglement using quantum memories. We report a compact and hardware-efficient realization of a quantum repeater node using a single atomic ensemble for multicell quantum memories. Millisecond lifetime is achieved for individual memory cells after suppressing the magnetic-field-induced inhomogeneous broadening and the atomic-motion-induced spin-wave dephasing. Based on these long-lived multicell memory cells, we achieve heralded async…
We analyze elementary building blocks for quantum repeaters based on fiber channels and memory stations. Implementations are considered for three different physical platforms, for which suitable components are available: quantum dots, trapped atoms and ions, and color centers in diamond. We evaluate and compare the performances of basic quantum repeater links for these platforms both for present-day, state-of-the-art experimental parameters as well as for parameters that could in principle be reached in the future. The ultimate goal is to experimentally explore regimes at intermediate distance…
SUPA Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde（斯特拉斯克莱德大学）；School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield（谢菲尔德大学）；Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin（柏林自由大学）；Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics（弗劳恩霍夫应用光子学中心）
InterQnet: A Heterogeneous Full-Stack Approach to Co-designing Scalable Quantum Networks
Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）；Northwestern University（西北大学）；The University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory（费米国家加速器实验室）；Q-NEXT, Argonne National Laboratory（Q-前沿，阿贡国家实验室）；University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）
1Department of Computer Science, School of Computing \& Information, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA；2Department of Informatics \& Networked Systems, School of Computing \& Information, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Quantum repeaters provide an efficient solution to distribute Bell pairs over arbitrarily long distances. While scalable architectures are demanding regarding the number of qubits that need to be controlled, here we present a quantum repeater scheme aiming to extend the range of present day quantum communications that could be implemented in the near future with trapped ions in cavities. We focus on an architecture where ion-photon entangled states are created locally and subsequently processed with linear optics to create elementary links of ion-ion entangled states. These links are then used…
We propose a quantum repeater architecture that can operate without cryogenics. Each node in our architecture builds on a cell of hot alkali atoms and noble-gas spins which offer a storage time as long as a few hours. Such a cell of hybrid gases is placed in a ring cavity, which allows us to suppress the detrimental four-wave mixing (FWM) noise in the system. We investigate the protocol based on a single-photon source made of an ensemble of the same hot alkali atoms. A single photon emitted from the source is either stored in the memory or transmitted to the central station to be detected. We …
Long-distance quantum communication via entanglement distribution is of great importance for the quantum internet. However, scaling up to such long distances has proved challenging due to the loss of photons, which grows exponentially with the distance covered. Quantum repeaters could in theory be used to extend the distances over which entanglement can be distributed, but in practice hardware quality is still lacking. Furthermore, it is generally not clear how an improvement in a certain repeater parameter, such as memory quality or attempt rate, impacts the overall network performance, rende…
A quantum network is expected to enhance distributed quantum computing and quantum communication over a long distance while providing unconditional security. As quantum entanglement is essential for a quantum network, major issues from various types of noise and decoherence prevent it from being realized, and research has been intensively active to obtain optimal configurations for a quantum network. In this work, we address the performance of a quantum network capable of quantum error correction and entanglement purification. Our results show that one should distribute Bell pairs as fast as p…
Major obstacles against efficient long distance quantum communication are photon losses during transmission and the probabilistic nature of Bell measurement causing exponential scaling in time and resource with distance. To overcome these difficulties, while conventional quantum repeaters require matter-based operations with long-lived quantum memories, recent proposals have employed encoded multiple photons in entanglement, providing an alternative way for scalability. In pursuing scalable quantum communications, naturally arising questions are thus whether any ultimate limit exists in all-op…
We introduce an alternative type of quantum repeater for long-range quantum communication with improved scaling with the distance. We show that by employing hashing, a deterministic entanglement distillation protocol with one-way communication, one obtains a scalable scheme that allows one to reach arbitrary distances, with constant overhead in resources per repeater station, and ultrahigh rates. In practical terms, we show that also with moderate resources of a few hundred qubits at each repeater station, one can reach intercontinental distances. At the same time, a measurement-based implemen…
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…
Quantum repeaters are a promising platform for realizing long-distance quantum communication and thus could form the backbone of a secure quantum internet, a scalable quantum network, or a distributed quantum computer. Repeater protocols that encode information in single- or multi-photon states are limited by transmission losses and the cost of implementing entangling gates or Bell measurements. In this work, we consider implementing a quantum repeater protocol using Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) qubits. These qubits are natural elements for quantum repeater protocols, because they allow for…
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）
Quantum repeater holds the promise for scalable long-distance quantum communication. Towards a first quantum repeater based on memory-photon entanglement, significant progresses have made in improving performances of the building blocks. Further development is hindered by the difficulty of integrating key capabilities such as long storage time and high memory efficiency into a single system. Here we report an efficient light-matter interface with sub-second lifetime by confining laser-cooled atoms with 3D optical lattice and enhancing the atom-photon coupling with a ring cavity. An initial ret…
Hybrid Quantum Repeaters with Ensemble-based Quantum Memories and Single-spin Photon Transducers
QuTech, Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学 QuTech）；Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学普里茨克分子工程学院）；Department of Applied Physics, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学应用物理系）；Constructor University（Constructor 大学）；Department of Physics, Harvard University（哈佛大学物理系）
Quantum Internet: Resource Estimation for Entanglement Routing
Airbus Central Research and Technology（空客中央研究与技术）；Institute for Quantum Physics and Center for Optical Quantum Technologies, University of Hamburg（汉堡大学量子物理研究所与光学量子技术中心）；The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging（汉堡超快成像中心）
We create and isolate single-photon emitters with a high brightness approaching $10^5$ counts per second in commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The emission occurs in the infrared spectral range with a spectrally narrow zero phonon line in the telecom O-band and shows a high photostability even after days of continuous operation. The origin of the emitters is attributed to one of the carbon-related color centers in silicon, the so-called G center, allowing purification with the $^{12}$C and $^{28}$Si isotopes. Furthermore, we envision a concept of a highly-coherent scalable quantum p…
