Distributed quantum computation with arbitrarily poor photon detection

TL;DR

This paper presents a robust entanglement protocol for distributed quantum computers that maintains high fidelity despite severe photon loss and dark counts, potentially functioning without photon detectors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel entanglement method that is effective even with arbitrarily poor photon detection, enhancing scalability of distributed quantum systems.

Findings

Protocol achieves high fidelity despite photon loss and dark counts

Method can succeed with detectors completely removed

Feasible with current technology

Abstract

In a distributed quantum computer scalability is accomplished by networking together many elementary nodes. Typically the network is optical and inter-node entanglement involves photon detection. In complex networks the entanglement fidelity may be degraded by the twin problems of photon loss and dark counts. Here we describe an entanglement protocol which can achieve high fidelity even when these issues are arbitrarily severe; indeed the method succeeds with finite probability even if the detectors are entirely removed from the network. An experimental demonstration should be possible with existing technologies.