Tools for quantum network design

TL;DR

This paper reviews current tools for evaluating quantum network performance, essential for scaling and optimizing quantum communication systems through benchmarks, analytical methods, and simulations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of existing evaluation tools for quantum networks from multiple perspectives, aiding future development and experimentation.

Findings

Identification of key information-theoretic benchmarks

Overview of analytical evaluation methods

Discussion of simulation tools for quantum networks

Abstract

Quantum networks will enable the implementation of communication tasks with qualitative advantages with respect to the communication networks we know today. While it is expected that the first demonstrations of small scale quantum networks will take place in the near term, many challenges remain to scale them. To compare different solutions, optimize over parameter space and inform experiments, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of concrete quantum network scenarios. Here, we review the state of the art of tools for evaluating the performance of quantum networks. We present them from three different angles: information-theoretic benchmarks, analytical tools, and simulation.