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arXiv:2604.03155 · International Conference on Quantum Communications, Networking, and Computing (QCNC)

Routing Entanglement in Complex Quantum Networks Using GHZ States

Xin-An Chen, Caitao Zhan, Joaquin Chung, Jeffrey Larson

quant-phSubmitted Apr 3, 2026• Announced Apr 6, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Distributing entanglement to distant parties in a network is a central task in quantum information processing and quantum networking. The sensitivity of entangled states to loss necessitates the use of entanglement routing strategies. Recently, a routing strategy using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) measurements instead of Bell state measurements (BSM) has been proposed. We further this direction of research by explicitly considering the varying measurement success probabilities of GHZ measurements. Moreover, we extend the analysis beyond square grid networks to complex network models such as Waxman networks and scale-free networks, as well as SURFnet, a real-world network topology in the Netherlands. Taking into account the varying success probabilities, naive application of GHZ routing achieves rates much lower than the conventional BSM routing. Instead, we propose a hybrid GHZ-BSM routing strategy. The hybrid GHZ-BSM routing strategy outperforms BSM routing in square grid networks. In other networks, however, more sophisticated adaptations using global information are required.

DOI
10.1109/QCNC69040.2026.00077
Comments
Updated version of our QCNC 2026 paper

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Distributing entanglement to distant parties in a network is a central task in quantum information processing and quantum networking. The sensitivity of entangled states to loss necessitates the use of entanglement routing strategies. Recently, a routing strategy using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) measurements instead of Bell state measurements (BSM) has been proposed. We further this direction of research by explicitly considering the varying measurement success probabilities of GHZ measurements. Moreover, we extend the analysis beyond square grid networks to complex network models such as Waxman networks and scale-free networks, as well as SURFnet, a real-world network topology in the Netherlands. Taking into account the varying success probabilities, naive application of GHZ routing achieves rates much lower than the conventional BSM routing. Instead, we propose a hybrid GHZ-BSM routing strategy. The hybrid GHZ-BSM routing strategy outperforms BSM routing in square grid networks. In other networks, however, more sophisticated adaptations using global information are required.
In quantum networks, one way to communicate is to distribute entanglements through swapping at intermediate nodes. Most existing work primarily aims to create efficient two-party end-to-end entanglement over long distances. However, some scenarios also require remote multipartite entanglement for applications such as quantum secret sharing and multi-party computation. Our previous study improved end-to-end entanglement rates using an asynchronous, tree-based routing scheme that relies solely on local knowledge of entanglement links, conserving unused entanglement and avoiding synchronous operations. This article extends this approach to multipartite entanglements, particularly the three-party Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. It shows that our asynchronous protocol outperforms traditional synchronous methods in entanglement rates, especially as coherence times increase. This approach can also be extended to four-party and larger multipartite GHZ states, highlighting the effectiveness and adaptability of asynchronous routing for multipartite scenarios across various network topologies.
Generating a long-distance quantum entanglement is one of the most essential functions of a quantum network to support quantum communication and computing applications. The successful entanglement rate during a probabilistic entanglement process decreases dramatically with distance, and swapping is a widely-applied quantum technique to address this issue. Most existing entanglement routing protocols use a classic entanglement-swapping method based on Bell State measurements that can only fuse two successful entanglement links. This paper appeals to a more general and efficient swapping method, namely n-fusion based on Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger measurements that can fuse n successful entanglement links, to maximize the entanglement rate for multiple quantum-user pairs over a quantum network. We propose efficient entanglement routing algorithms that utilize the properties of n-fusion for quantum networks with general topologies. Evaluation results highlight that our proposed algorithm under n-fusion can greatly improve the network performance compared with existing ones.
Quantum Internet has the potential to support a wide range of applications in quantum communication and quantum computing by generating, distributing, and processing quantum information. Generating a long-distance quantum entanglement is one of the most fundamental functions of a quantum Internet to facilitate these applications. However, entanglement is a probabilistic process, and its success rate drops significantly as distance increases. Entanglement-swapping is an efficient technique used to address this challenge. How to efficiently manage the entanglement through swapping is a fundamental yet challenging problem. This article considers two entanglement-swapping methods: (1) Bell state measurement (BSM) entanglement-swapping: a classic entanglement-swapping method that is able to fuse two successful quantum links, (2) Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) measurement entanglement-swapping: a more general and efficient swapping method which is capable of fusingnsuccessful quantum links. The goal is to maximize the entanglement rate for multiple quantum processor unit (QPU) pairs over the quantum Internet with a general topology. Two efficient entanglement management protocols are proposed which respectively make use of the unique properties of BSM and GHZ. Evaluation results highlight that the proposed protocols outperform the existing ones.
The effective routing of entanglement over a quantum network is a fundamental problem in quantum communication. The distribution and reshaping of multipartite entanglement over a quantum network requires scalable protocols that adapt to the underlying topology. Graph states provide a convenient framework for this challenging task, as they encode global entanglement in a structured way that can be locally manipulated to produce a variety of target states, without requiring additional long-distance quantum operations. In this article, we propose graph-state-based routing protocols for sharing GHZ states, achieving larger sizes than those achieved in the existing works for given network topologies. For this improvement, we consider tree structures connecting the users participating in the final GHZ states, as opposed to the linear configurations used in the earlier works. In particular, for grid networks, we show special constructions of such trees that achieve larger GHZ states than the prior works. Moreover, if the user nodes along which the entanglement is to be routed are pre-specified, a strategy is proposed to accomplish this routing.
Quantum Internet has the potential to support a wide range of applications in quantum communication and quantum computing by generating, distributing, and processing quantum information. Generating a long-distance quantum entanglement is one of the most essential functions of a quantum Internet to facilitate these applications. However, entanglement is a probabilistic process, and its success rate drops significantly as distance increases. Entanglement swapping is an efficient technique used to address this challenge. How to efficiently manage the entanglement through swapping is a fundamental yet challenging problem. In this paper, we will consider two swapping methods: (1) BSM: a classic entanglement-swapping method based on Bell State measurements that fuse two successful quantum links, (2) nfusion: a more general and efficient swapping method based on Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger measurements, capable of fusing n successful quantum links. Our goal is to maximize the entanglement rate for multiple quantum-user pairs over the quantum Internet with an arbitrary topology. We propose efficient entanglement management algorithms that utilized the unique properties of BSM and n-fusion. Evaluation results highlight that our approach outperforms existing routing protocols.
Multipartite entangled states are great resources for quantum networks. In this work, we study the distribution, or routing, of entangled states over fixed, but arbitrary, physical networks. Our simplified model represents each use of a quantum channel as the sharing of a Bell pair; local operations and classical communications are considered to be free. We introduce two protocols to distribute, respectively, Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and arbitrary graph states over arbitrary quantum networks. The GHZ states' distribution protocol takes a single step and is optimal in terms of the number of Bell pairs used; the graph states' distribution protocol uses, at most, twice as many Bell pairs and steps as the optimal routing protocol for the worst-case scenario.