Analytical Performance Estimations for Quantum Repeater Network Scenarios

TL;DR

This paper develops analytical models using Markov chains to estimate the throughput and latency of quantum repeater networks, providing valuable benchmarks and insights into their performance based on system parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a Markov chain-based analytical framework for evaluating long-term throughput and latency in quantum repeater chains, including multi-heralded protocols and nested configurations.

Findings

Analytical formulas for quantum repeater network performance.

Insights into how system parameters affect throughput and latency.

Framework applicable for benchmarking and validation of quantum network simulations.

Abstract

Quantum repeater chains will form the backbone of future quantum networks that distribute entanglement between network nodes. Therefore, it is important to understand the entanglement distribution performance of quantum repeater chains, especially their throughput and latency. By using Markov chains to model the stochastic dynamics in quantum repeater chains, we offer analytical estimations for long-run throughput and on-demand latency of continuous entanglement distribution. We first study single-link entanglement generation using general multiheralded protocols. We then model entanglement distribution with entanglement swapping over two links, using either a single- or a double-heralded entanglement generation protocol. We also demonstrate how the two-link results offer insights into the performance of general $2^k$-link nested repeater chains. Our results enrich the quantitative understanding of quantum repeater network performance, especially the dependence on system parameters. The analytical formulae themselves are valuable reference resources for the quantum networking community. They can serve as benchmarks for quantum network simulation validation or as examples of quantum network dynamics modeling using the Markov chain formalism.