A Quantum Overlay Network for Efficient Entanglement Distribution

TL;DR

This paper proposes Quantum Overlay Networks (QONs) to improve long-distance quantum entanglement distribution efficiency by pre-storing entangled pairs and optimizing resource allocation, significantly outperforming traditional methods.

Contribution

Introduction of QON architecture with centralized optimization for entanglement distribution, enabling better resource utilization and performance under variable demand conditions.

Findings

QONs achieve 40% better demand satisfaction during surges.

QONs reduce average entanglement request delay.

QONs outperform traditional approaches in various network topologies.

Abstract

Distributing quantum entanglements over long distances is essential for the realization of a global scale quantum Internet. Most of the prior work and proposals assume an on-demand distribution of entanglements which may result in significant network resource under-utilization. In this work, we introduce Quantum Overlay Networks (QONs) for efficient entanglement distribution in quantum networks. When the demand to create end-to-end user entanglements is low, QONs can generate and store maximally entangled Bell pairs (EPR pairs) at specific overlay storage nodes of the network. Later, during peak demands, requests can be served by performing entanglement swaps either over a direct path from the network or over a path using the storage nodes. We solve the link entanglement and storage resource allocation problem in such a QON using a centralized optimization framework. We evaluate the performance of our proposed QON architecture over a wide number of network topologies under various settings using extensive simulation experiments. Our results demonstrate that QONs fare well by a factor of 40% with respect to meeting surge and changing demands compared to traditional non-overlay proposals. QONs also show significant improvement in terms of average entanglement request service delay over non-overlay approaches.