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arXiv:2605.15869 · International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN)

HOPPER: A Hop-by-hop Entanglement Distribution Protocol for Asynchronous Quantum Networks

Claudio Cicconetti

quant-phcs.NISubmitted May 15, 2026• Announced May 18, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The quantum Internet relies on the ability to distribute entangled quantum bits (ebits) between quantum memories at the end nodes, to perform applications like blind or distributed quantum computing that are impossible if end nodes are connected via a classical, i.e., non-quantum network. This need creates new challenges due to the fragile nature of entanglement, which decoheres over short timescales and cannot be amplified, buffered, or retransmitted. Two broad categories of approaches have been proposed in the scientific literature to realize such an entanglement distribution in a given path: one relying on a synchronous time-slotted model, and another one where intermediate nodes interact asynchronously. However, both of them implicitly assume a serial operation, where one ebit is established and made available to the application on end nodes before creating a new one. This is inefficient in long-range networks, with high transmission latencies, if the intermediate nodes have multiple memory qubits that could be used in parallel. To overcome this limitation, in this paper, we study the implications of multiplexing concurrent ebit requests on the same quantum, for both synchronous and asynchronous operation. Furthermore, for the latter, we define a novel distribution protocol, called HOPPER, where the intermediate nodes make autonomous and hop-by-hop decisions on the use of their local resources when establishing an ebit. With numerical simulations, we show that HOPPER is effective in handling multiple ebit requests in parallel, and it exhibits significantly better performance than a synchronous alternative in different scenarios.

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Accepted for oral presentation at IEEE ICCCN 2026

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The quantum Internet relies on the ability to distribute entangled quantum bits (ebits) between quantum memories at the end nodes, to perform applications like blind or distributed quantum computing that are impossible if end nodes are connected via a classical, i.e., non-quantum network. This need creates new challenges due to the fragile nature of entanglement, which decoheres over short timescales and cannot be amplified, buffered, or retransmitted. Two broad categories of approaches have been proposed in the scientific literature to realize such an entanglement distribution in a given path: one relying on a synchronous time-slotted model, and another one where intermediate nodes interact asynchronously. However, both of them implicitly assume a serial operation, where one ebit is established and made available to the application on end nodes before creating a new one. This is inefficient in long-range networks, with high transmission latencies, if the intermediate nodes have multiple memory qubits that could be used in parallel. To overcome this limitation, in this paper, we study the implications of multiplexing concurrent ebit requests on the same quantum, for both synchronous and asynchronous operation. Furthermore, for the latter, we define a novel distribution protocol, called HOPPER, where the intermediate nodes make autonomous and hop-by-hop decisions on the use of their local resources when establishing an ebit. With numerical simulations, we show that HOPPER is effective in handling multiple ebit requests in parallel, and it exhibits significantly better performance than a synchronous alternative in different scenarios.
Quantum networks create a completely new way for communication, and the most important function of a quantum network is to generate long-distance quantum entanglement to serve a number of quantum applications. As the scale of the network expands, in order to establish end-to-end entanglement between two remote nodes, entangled pairs need to be generated and distributed among multiple repeaters along the path from the source to the destination, which requires a specific protocol to negotiate resource allocations and quantum operations among the repeaters. Thus, to realize such remote entanglement distribution in a quantum network, designing a stable and reliable protocol becomes urgent and necessary. In this article, we focus on how to guarantee the generation rate of entangled pairs between any two quantum nodes to meet the requirements of various quantum applications in a large-scale quantum network. We present a connection-oriented entanglement distribution protocol inspired by the connection-oriented communication model in classical networks. Our protocol is located in the network layer of the quantum network to enable end-to-end quantum communication. Three main features are provided by the proposed protocol: 1) it is reliable and can guarantee the successful entanglement generation; 2) it can reduce the influence of quantum decoherence via reducing the latency caused by resource competition; and 3) it can guarantee the rate of generating entanglement between two quantum nodes according to the requirement of quantum applications.
Entanglement distribution between distant quantum nodes plays an essential role in realizing quantum networks’ capabilities. In addition to path selection, remote entanglement distribution involves two pivotal quantum operations, i.e., entanglement generation and entanglement swapping. The existing studies mainly adopt two methods, i.e., Tell-and-Generation (TAG) and Tell-and-Swapping (TAS), to manage these two quantum operations on a selected path. However, both methods fatally introduce redundant stop-and-wait processes, which are detrimental to the performance of remote entanglement distribution in terms of latency and fidelity. To achieve low-latency and high-fidelity entanglement distribution between far-off quantum nodes, we propose a segment-based method consisting of an entanglement generation algorithm and a segment design to diminish the unnecessary stop-and-wait processes. The entanglement generation algorithm adopts a concurrent design to establish entanglement links using the one-demand generation model, thus effectively reducing waiting time compared to hop-by-hop and parallel designs. The segment design is proposed to split a long-distance path into multiple short-haul segments with the similar ability to swap entanglement, and these segments build multi-hop entanglement connections in parallel. Extensive simulations show that the segment-based method significantly outperforms the existing methods, including TAG and TAS, in entanglement distribution latency and effectively mitigates fidelity attenuation.
With the emergence of the Quantum Internet, the need for advanced quantum networking techniques has significantly risen. Various models of quantum repeaters have been presented, each delineating a unique strategy to ensure quantum communication over long distances. We focus on repeaters that employ entanglement generation and swapping. This revolves around establishing remote end-to-end entanglement through repeaters, a concept we denote as the “quantum-native” repeaters (also called “first-generation” repeaters in some literature). The challenges in routing with quantum-native repeaters arise from probabilistic entanglement generation and restricted coherence time. Current approaches use synchronized time slots to search for entanglement-swapping paths, resulting in inefficiencies. Here, we propose a new set of asynchronous routing protocols for quantum networks by incorporating the idea of maintaining a dynamic topology in a distributed manner, which has been extensively studied in classical routing for lossy networks, such as using a destination-oriented directed acyclic graph or a spanning tree. The protocols update the entanglement-link topology asynchronously, identify optimal entanglement-swapping paths, and preserve unused direct-link entanglements. Our results indicate that asynchronous protocols achieve a larger upper bound with an appropriate setting and significantly higher entanglement rate than existing synchronous approaches, and the rate increases with coherence time, suggesting that it will have a much more profound impact on quantum networks as technology advances.
Remote entanglement distribution in an efficient and reliable manner, especially in the context of a large-scale quantum network with multiple requests, remains an unsolved challenge. The key difficulties lie in achieving spontaneous and precise control over the entanglement distribution procedure, as multiple nodes need to reach a consensus on how to perform it. From the network aspect, allocating link-layer entangled pairs as resources to achieve high efficiency is also challenging. To address these issues, we propose a decentralized Reliable Entanglement Distribution Protocol (REDP) for large-scale networks. The protocol operates in a Forward-Backward Propagation (FBP) manner, where consensus is reached hop-by-hop and disseminated to all nodes on the path. We further use probabilistic analysis and quasi-static modeling to seek the fairness and efficiency of the network based on the above transmission model. Accordingly, we introduce a Source Window Strategy (SWS) and an Entanglement Allocation Strategy (EAS) to assign sending windows and allocate resources for multiple requests, ensuring a high level of fairness and efficiency from a network perspective. Through systematic simulations involving both classical and quantum communication protocols, we demonstrate that REDP outperforms existing approaches in terms of fairness, throughput, and fidelity performance.
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.
The distribution of entanglement in quantum networks is typically approached under idealized assumptions such as perfect synchronization and centralized control, while classical communication is often neglected. However, these assumptions prove impractical in large-scale networks. In this paper, we present a pragmatic perspective by exploring two minimal asynchronous protocols: a parallel scheme generating entanglement independently at the link level, and a sequential scheme extending entanglement iteratively from one party to the other. Our analysis incorporates non-uniform repeater spacings and classical communications and accounts for quantum memory decoherence. We evaluate network performance using metrics such as entanglement bit rate, end-to-end fidelity, and secret key rate for entanglement-based quantum key distribution. Our findings suggest the sequential scheme's superiority due to comparable performance with the parallel scheme, coupled with simpler implementation. Additionally, we impose a cutoff strategy to improve performance by discarding attempts with prolonged memory idle time, effectively eliminating low-quality entanglement links. Finally, we apply our methods to the real-world topology of SURFnet and report the performance as a function of memory coherence time.