Routing in Quantum Networks with End-to-End Knowledge

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel routing approach for quantum networks that finds paths meeting fidelity thresholds without requiring detailed network knowledge, improving robustness and fairness over traditional methods.

Contribution

It proposes a new algorithm for quantum network routing that operates with limited network information, outperforming existing algorithms in fidelity delivery and fairness.

Findings

Proposed algorithm consistently outperforms Dijkstra and fully knowledge-aware algorithms.

The approach maintains high fidelity thresholds across various network topologies.

It is robust to inaccuracies in fidelity estimations.

Abstract

Given the diverse array of physical systems available for quantum computing and the absence of a well-defined quantum internet protocol stack, the design and optimisation of quantum networking protocols remain largely unexplored. To address this, we introduce an approach that facilitates the establishment of paths capable of delivering end-to-end fidelity above a specified threshold, without requiring detailed knowledge of the quantum network properties. In this study, we define algorithms that are specific instances of this approach and evaluate them in comparison to Dijkstra shortest path algorithm and a fully knowledge-aware algorithm through simulations. Our results demonstrate that one of the proposed algorithms consistently outperforms the other methods in delivering paths above the fidelity threshold, across various network topologies and the number of source-destination pairs involved, while maintaining significant levels of fairness among the users and being robust to inaccurate estimations of the expected end-to-end fidelity.