Design and Implementation of the Illinois Express Quantum Metropolitan Area Network
Joaquin Chung, Ely M. Eastman, Gregory S. Kanter, Keshav Kapoor,, Nikolai Lauk, Cristi\'an Pe\~na, Robert Plunkett, Neil Sinclair, Jordan M., Thomas, Raju Valivarthi, Si Xie, Rajkumar Kettimuthu, Prem Kumar, Panagiotis, Spentzouris, Maria Spiropulu

TL;DR
The paper presents the design and implementation of IEQNET, a metropolitan quantum network in Chicago utilizing existing optical fiber and SDN technology to enable quantum communication and coexistence of quantum and classical signals.
Contribution
It introduces a layered network architecture with SDN control for quantum networking, demonstrating metro-scale quantum communication capabilities.
Findings
Successful deployment of quantum nodes over Chicago fiber network
Demonstration of quantum-classical signal coexistence in the same fiber
Implementation of SDN-based control for quantum network management
Abstract
The Illinois Express Quantum Network (IEQNET) is a program to realize metropolitan scale quantum networking over deployed optical fiber using currently available technology. IEQNET consists of multiple sites that are geographically dispersed in the Chicago metropolitan area. Each site has one or more quantum nodes (Q-nodes) representing the communication parties in a quantum network. Q-nodes generate or measure quantum signals such as entangled photons and communicate the measurement results via standard, classical signals and conventional networking processes. The entangled photons in IEQNET nodes are generated at multiple wavelengths, and are selectively distributed to the desired users via transparent optical switches. Here we describe the network architecture of IEQNET, including the Internet-inspired layered hierarchy that leverages software-defined networking (SDN) technology to…
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