Hybrid Entanglement for Optical Quantum Networks

Chitra Shukla, Priya Malpani, Kishore Thapliyal

Michael Zopf

Yanxuan Shao, Saikat Guha, Adilson E. Motter

Quantum networks hold promise for key distribution, private and distributed computing, and quantum sensing, among other applications. The scale of such networks for ground users is currently limited by one’s ability to distribute entanglement between distant locations. This can in principle be carried out by transmitting entangled photons through optical fibers or satellites. The former is limited by fiber-optic attenuation, while the latter is limited by atmospheric extinction and diffraction. Here, we propose a hybrid network and protocol that outperform both ground- and satellite-based designs and lead to high-fidelity entanglement at a continental or even global scale.

Sami Ul Haq, Farhan Saif

Giovanni Guccione, Tom Darras, Hanna Le Jeannic +4 more

Recent advances in quantum technologies are rapidly stimulating the building of quantum networks. With the parallel development of multiple physical platforms and different types of encodings, a challenge for present and future networks is to uphold a heterogeneous structure for full functionality and therefore support modular systems that are not necessarily compatible with one another. Central to this endeavor is the capability to distribute and interconnect optical entangled states relying on different discrete and continuous quantum variables. Here, we report an entanglement swapping protocol connecting such entangled states. We generate single-photon entanglement and hybrid entanglement between particle- and wave-like optical qubits and then demonstrate the heralded creation of hybrid entanglement at a distance by using a specific Bell-state measurement. This ability opens up the prospect of connecting heterogeneous nodes of a network, with the promise of increased integration and novel functionalities.

F. J. Duarte