A Configurable Protocol for Quantum Entanglement Distribution to End Nodes

TL;DR

This paper introduces REDiP, a configurable, connection-oriented quantum entanglement distribution protocol that integrates purification and swapping, improving fidelity management in quantum repeater networks.

Contribution

It presents a novel protocol that combines purification and entanglement swapping, allowing customizable strategies and addressing fidelity constraints in quantum networks.

Findings

Simulations show improved throughput and fidelity with REDiP.

The protocol supports various entanglement strategies from recent research.

REDiP enhances end-to-end entanglement reliability.

Abstract

The primary task of a quantum repeater network is to deliver entanglement among end nodes. Most of existing entanglement distribution protocols do not consider purification, which is thus delegated to an upper layer. This is a major drawback since, once an end-to-end entangled connection (or a portion thereof) is established it cannot be purified if its fidelity (F) does not fall within an interval bounded by Fmin (greater than 0.5) and Fmax (less than 1). In this paper, we propose the Ranked Entanglement Distribution Protocol (REDiP), a connection-oriented protocol that overcomes the above drawback. This result was achieved by including in our protocol two mechanisms for carrying out jointly purification and entanglement swapping. We use simulations to investigate the impact of these mechanisms on the performance of a repeater network, in terms of throughput and fidelity. Moreover, we show how REDiP can easily be configured to implement custom entanglement swapping and purification strategies, including (but not restricted to) those adopted in two recent works.