Entanglement distribution quantum networking within deployed telecommunications fibre-optic infrastructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a scalable, wavelength-multiplexed quantum network over deployed fibre infrastructure, enabling secure key distribution among 10 users in a metropolitan area with stable entanglement.

Contribution

It introduces a polarisation entanglement-based quantum network testbed capable of supporting multiple protocols and connecting 10 users without additional resource requirements per user.

Findings

Successfully connected 10 users in a metropolitan quantum network

Achieved stable polarisation entanglement over 10.8 days

Generated secret keys with an average rate of 3.38 bps

Abstract

Quantum networks have been shown to connect users with full-mesh topologies without trusted nodes. We present advancements on our scalable polarisation entanglement-based quantum network testbed, which has the ability to perform protocols beyond simple quantum key distribution. Our approach utilises wavelength multiplexing, which is ideal for quantum networks across local metropolitan areas due to the ease of connecting additional users to the network without increasing the resource requirements per user. We show a 10 user fully connected quantum network with metropolitan scale deployed fibre links, demonstrating polarisation stability and the ability to generate secret keys over a period of 10.8 days with a network wide average-effective secret key rate of 3.38 bps.