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Designing the quantum Internet (Conference Presentation)

Rodney Van Meter

Published Oct 11, 2018• 0 citations

Abstract

The coming Quantum Internet will bring us new capabilities: advanced cryptographic functions, high-precision sensor networks for uses such as high-resolution astronomy, and secure distributed quantum computing. Experimental progress on the components for quantum repeaters is moving at a dizzying rate, and theorists have proposed various approaches to managing errors to create high-fidelity quantum entanglement. Building quantum networks presents different challenges from building quantum links. I will give an overview of these issues, then discuss the even more daunting challenge of creating a network of networks -- an internetwork -- and show how our simulations are guiding the design of a true quantum Internet. These challenges include routing (path selection), resource management such as multiplexing techniques, and security considerations within individual networks. Recently, we have discovered that it is possible for a single hijacked quantum repeater to frame other repeaters as malicious, substantially disrupting network operations. All of these issues are magnified when discussing autonomous networks that exchange information, known as an internetwork. In internetworking, not only is the scale of the problem daunting, but heterogeneous technologies will be deployed and demand interoperability at the logical level as well as the physical. Network operators also prefer to maintain the privacy of their own network operations, requiring mechanisms including connection establishment to operate with minimal sharing of information across network boundaries.

DOI: 10.1117/12.2326894

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Principles of quantum mechanics promise a future quantum internet that connects a wide variety of quantum devices together in a coherent and secure fashion. It is well known that due to the size of this quantum internet, quantum repeaters will be a critical part in a similar fashion to the importance of repeaters in today's telecommunications internet. Given the inherent differences between classical and quantum physics, it is essential to establish how a quantum internet will function including how we route information as well as the functionality quantum repeaters will need to provide. Our considerations here go far beyond quantum key distribution and instead focus on a true network of connected quantum devices, including computers and sensors. We show how the efficient operation of such quantum networks relies on the seamless integration of both quantum and classical communication resources.

Principles of quantum mechanics promise a future quantum internet that connects a wide variety of quantum devices together in a coherent and secure fashion. It is well known that due to the size of this quantum internet, quantum repeaters will be a critical part in a similar fashion to the importance of repeaters in today's telecommunications internet. Given the inherent differences between classical and quantum physics, it is essential to establish how a quantum internet will function including how we route information as well as the functionality quantum repeaters will need to provide. Our considerations here go far beyond quantum key distribution and instead focus on a true network of connected quantum devices, including computers and sensors. We show how the efficient operation of such quantum networks relies on the seamless integration of both quantum and classical communication resources.

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