Quantum Internet: Networking Challenges in Distributed Quantum Computing

TL;DR

This paper discusses the fundamental challenges and open problems in designing the Quantum Internet, emphasizing the unique quantum phenomena that require new networking paradigms for distributed quantum computing.

Contribution

It provides an overview of quantum mechanics principles relevant to networking and highlights the key research challenges in developing quantum communication networks.

Findings

Quantum teleportation enables transmitting quantum information without physical transfer.

Quantum phenomena like no-cloning and entanglement impose unique constraints on network design.

Identifies major open problems in Quantum Internet development.

Abstract

The Quantum Internet is envisioned as the final stage of the quantum revolution, opening fundamentally new communications and computing capabilities, including the distributed quantum computing. But the Quantum Internet is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Phenomena with no counterpart in classical networks, such as no-cloning, quantum measurement, entanglement and teleporting, impose very challenging constraints for the network design. Specifically, classical network functionalities, ranging from error-control mechanisms to overhead-control strategies, are based on the assumption that classical information can be safely read and copied. But this assumption does not hold in the Quantum Internet. As a consequence, the design of the Quantum Internet requires a major network-paradigm shift to harness the quantum mechanics specificities. The goal of this work is to shed light on the challenges and the open problems of the Quantum Internet design. To this aim, we first introduce some basic knowledge of quantum mechanics, needed to understand the differences between a classical and a quantum network. Then, we introduce quantum teleportation as the key strategy for transmitting quantum information without physically transferring the particle that stores the quantum information or violating the principles of the quantum mechanics. Finally, the key research challenges to design quantum communication networks are described.