We study a quantum switch that distributes maximally entangled multipartite states to sets of users. The entanglement switching process requires two steps: first, each user attempts to generate bipartite entanglement between itself and the switch; and second, the switch performs local operations and a measurement to create multipartite entanglement for a set of users. In this work, we study a simple variant of this system, wherein the switch has infinite memory and the links that connect the users to the switch are identical. Further, we assume that all quantum states, if generated successfully, have perfect fidelity and that decoherence is negligible. This problem formulation is of interest to several distributed quantum applications, while the technical aspects of this work result in new contributions within queueing theory. Via extensive use of Lyapunov functions, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of the system and closed-form expressions for the switch capacity and the expected number of qubits in memory.We study a quantum switch that distributes maximally entangled multipartite states to sets of users. The entanglement switching process requires two steps: first, each user attempts to generate bipartite entanglement between itself and the switch; and second, the switch performs local operations and a measurement to create multipartite entanglement for a set of users. In this work, we study a simple variant of this system, wherein the switch has infinite memory and the links that connect the users to the switch are identical. Further, we assume that all quantum states, if generated successfully, have perfect fidelity and that decoherence is negligible. This problem formulation is of interest to several distributed quantum applications, while the technical aspects of this work result in new contributions within queueing theory. Via extensive use of Lyapunov functions, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of the system and closed-form expressions for the switch capacity and the expected number of qubits in memory.

ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation ReviewJul 8, 20204 citations

On the Analysis of a Multipartite Entanglement Distribution Switch

Philippe Nain, Gayane Vardoyan, Saikat Guha +1 more

arXiv:2212.01784Dec 4, 20220 citations

On the Analysis of a Multipartite Entanglement Distribution Switch

Philippe Nain, Gayane Vardoyan, Saikat Guha +1 more

ACM SIGMETRICS International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (SIGMETRICS)Jun 8, 202014 citations

On the Stochastic Analysis of a Quantum Entanglement Distribution Switch

Gayane Vardoyan, Saikat Guha, Philippe Nain +1 more

In this article, we study a quantum entanglement distribution switch that serves $k$ users in a star topology. We model variants of the system as continuous-time Markov chains and obtain expressions for switch capacity, expected number of qubits stored in memory at the switch, and the quantum memory occupancy distribution. We obtain a number of analytic results for systems in which measurements are imperfect, the links are homogeneous or heterogeneous and for switches that have an infinite or finite number of quantum memories or buffers. In addition, we model the effect of decoherence of quantum states and associated cutoff times on their storage using a simple model. From numerical observations, we discover that decoherence-associated cutoff times have little effect on capacity and expected number of stored qubits for homogeneous systems. For heterogeneous systems, especially those operating near the boundaries of their stability regions (i.e., systems that are nearly unstable), buffer size and decoherence can have significant effects on performance metrics. We also learn that in general, increasing the buffer size from one to two qubits per link is advantageous to most systems, whereas increasing the buffer size further yields diminishing returns. The analytical results obtained in this work can serve as a useful guide toward the future design of quantum switches—e.g., by allowing the designer to determine how many quantum memories suffice for a given number of users—as well as provide valuable insight on the performance of these and similar devices.In this article, we study a quantum entanglement distribution switch that serves$k$users in a star topology. We model variants of the system as continuous-time Markov chains and obtain expressions for switch capacity, expected number of qubits stored in memory at the switch, and the quantum memory occupancy distribution. We obtain a number of analytic results for systems in which measurements are imperfect, the links are homogeneous or heterogeneous and for switches that have an infinite or finite number of quantum memories or buffers. In addition, we model the effect of decoherence of quantum states and associated cutoff times on their storage using a simple model. From numerical observations, we discover that decoherence-associated cutoff times have little effect on capacity and expected number of stored qubits for homogeneous systems. For heterogeneous systems, especially those operating near the boundaries of their stability regions (i.e., systems that are nearly unstable), buffer size and decoherence can have significant effects on performance metrics. We also learn that in general, increasing the buffer size from one to two qubits per link is advantageous to most systems, whereas increasing the buffer size further yields diminishing returns. The analytical results obtained in this work can serve as a useful guide toward the future design of quantum switches—e.g., by allowing the designer to determine how many quantum memories suffice for a given number of users—as well as provide valuable insight on the performance of these and similar devices.

IEEE Transactions on Quantum EngineeringJan 1, 202163 citations

On the Stochastic Analysis of a Quantum Entanglement Switch

Gayane Vardoyan, Saikat Guha, Philippe Nain +1 more

We study a quantum entanglement switch that serves k users in a star topology. We model variants of the system using continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) and obtain expressions for switch capacity and the expected number of qubits stored in memory at the switch. Using CTMCs allows us to obtain a number of analytic results for systems in which the links are homogeneous or heterogeneous and for switches that have infinite or finite buffer sizes. In addition, we can easily model the effects of decoherence of quantum states using this technique. From numerical observations, we discover that decoherence has little effect on capacity and expected number of stored qubits for homogeneous systems. For heterogeneous systems, especially those operating close to stability constraints, buffer size and decoherence can significantly affect performance. We also learn that, in general, increasing the buffer size from one to two qubits per link is advantageous to most systems, while increasing the buffer size further yields diminishing returns.We study a quantum entanglement switch that serves k users in a star topology. We model variants of the system using continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) and obtain expressions for switch capacity and the expected number of qubits stored in memory at the switch. Using CTMCs allows us to obtain a number of analytic results for systems in which the links are homogeneous or heterogeneous and for switches that have infinite or finite buffer sizes. In addition, we can easily model the effects of decoherence of quantum states using this technique. From numerical observations, we discover that decoherence has little effect on capacity and expected number of stored qubits for homogeneous systems. For heterogeneous systems, especially those operating close to stability constraints, buffer size and decoherence can significantly affect performance. We also learn that, in general, increasing the buffer size from one to two qubits per link is advantageous to most systems, while increasing the buffer size further yields diminishing returns.

arXiv:1903.04420ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation ReviewDec 4, 201985 citations

Entanglement Distribution in Quantum Switch Networks: Memory Limits and Achievability

Lei Hu, Alptug Aytekin, Stavros Mitrolaris +4 more

We study the minimum persistent memory required to distribute a graph state through a quantum switch. Specifically, consider a central switch that assists $n$ remote users in distributing a graph state, using independently generated user-switch Bell pairs. Since Bell-pair generation is probabilistic, different links generally succeed at different times. When a Bell-pair is generated, the qubits may need to be stored in memory while waiting for other links to succeed. Recently, new protocols have been proposed to reduce this storage overhead by processing and releasing some switch qubits before all Bell links are available. However, these protocols do not characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required at each stage. Moreover, the local-cover method in the state-of-the-art Piecemaker protocol is computationally expensive for general target graphs. In this work, we characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required after any subset of users' Bell links are generated and processed. We then develop an online stabilizer-transition protocol that attains this limit, which can be implemented in polynomial time in the number of qubits $n$ . Remarkably, this optimal protocol can provide substantial memory reductions over existing heuristic approaches. In particular, for the path graph $P_n$ over $n$ users, Piecemaker protocol requires at least $\lfloor n/2\rfloor$ qubits of peak persistent memory for \textit{every Bell-links generation order}, whereas under the order $(1,2,\ldots,n)$ , our protocol requires only one persistent switch qubit. Finally, the same stabilizer-transition framework also provides a direct forward construction for sequential graph-state generation using the minimum number of quantum emitters, equal to the maximum of the height function.We study the minimum persistent memory required to distribute a graph state through a quantum switch. Specifically, consider a central switch that assists $n$ remote users in distributing a graph state, using independently generated user-switch Bell pairs. Since Bell-pair generation is probabilistic, different links generally succeed at different times. When a Bell-pair is generated, the qubits may need to be stored in memory while waiting for other links to succeed. Recently, new protocols have been proposed to reduce this storage overhead by processing and releasing some switch qubits before all Bell links are available. However, these protocols do not characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required at each stage. Moreover, the local-cover method in the state-of-the-art Piecemaker protocol is computationally expensive for general target graphs. In this work, we characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required after any subset of users' Bell links are generated and processed. We then develop an online stabilizer-transition protocol that attains this limit, which can be implemented in polynomial time in the number of qubits $n$. Remarkably, this optimal protocol can provide substantial memory reductions over existing heuristic approaches. In particular, for the path graph $P_n$ over $n$ users, Piecemaker protocol requires at least $\lfloor n/2\rfloor$ qubits of peak persistent memory for \textit{every Bell-links generation order}, whereas under the order $(1,2,\ldots,n)$, our protocol requires only one persistent switch qubit. Finally, the same stabilizer-transition framework also provides a direct forward construction for sequential graph-state generation using the minimum number of quantum emitters, equal to the maximum of the height function.

cs.ITCross-listedarXiv:2610.28596Oct 21, 20260 citations

In this article, we study a quantum entanglement distribution switch that serves

k

users in a star topology. We model variants of the system as continuous-time Markov chains and obtain expressions for switch capacity, expected number of qubits stored in memory at the switch, and the quantum memory occupancy distribution. We obtain a number of analytic results for systems in which measurements are imperfect, the links are homogeneous or heterogeneous and for switches that have an infinite or finite number of quantum memories or buffers. In addition, we model the effect of decoherence of quantum states and associated cutoff times on their storage using a simple model. From numerical observations, we discover that decoherence-associated cutoff times have little effect on capacity and expected number of stored qubits for homogeneous systems. For heterogeneous systems, especially those operating near the boundaries of their stability regions (i.e., systems that are nearly unstable), buffer size and decoherence can have significant effects on performance metrics. We also learn that in general, increasing the buffer size from one to two qubits per link is advantageous to most systems, whereas increasing the buffer size further yields diminishing returns. The analytical results obtained in this work can serve as a useful guide toward the future design of quantum switches—e.g., by allowing the designer to determine how many quantum memories suffice for a given number of users—as well as provide valuable insight on the performance of these and similar devices.

We study the minimum persistent memory required to distribute a graph state through a quantum switch. Specifically, consider a central switch that assists

n

remote users in distributing a graph state, using independently generated user-switch Bell pairs. Since Bell-pair generation is probabilistic, different links generally succeed at different times. When a Bell-pair is generated, the qubits may need to be stored in memory while waiting for other links to succeed. Recently, new protocols have been proposed to reduce this storage overhead by processing and releasing some switch qubits before all Bell links are available. However, these protocols do not characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required at each stage. Moreover, the local-cover method in the state-of-the-art Piecemaker protocol is computationally expensive for general target graphs. In this work, we characterize the minimum persistent switch memory required after any subset of users' Bell links are generated and processed. We then develop an online stabilizer-transition protocol that attains this limit, which can be implemented in polynomial time in the number of qubits

n

. Remarkably, this optimal protocol can provide substantial memory reductions over existing heuristic approaches. In particular, for the path graph

P_n

over

n

users, Piecemaker protocol requires at least

\lfloor n/2\rfloor

qubits of peak persistent memory for \textit{every Bell-links generation order}, whereas under the order

(1,2,\ldots,n)

, our protocol requires only one persistent switch qubit. Finally, the same stabilizer-transition framework also provides a direct forward construction for sequential graph-state generation using the minimum number of quantum emitters, equal to the maximum of the height function.