We present quantum repeater networks utilizing rotation-symmetric bosonic codes to enhance the performance of long-distance quantum communication. By adding multiple channels, it can be further improved and the requirements are within state-of-art technology.
Abstract Continuous-variable (CV) codes and their application in quantum communication have attracted increasing attention. In particular, one typical CV codes, cat-codes, has already been experimentally created using trapped atoms in cavities with relatively high fidelities. However, when these codes are used in a repeater protocol, the secret key rate (SKR) that can be extracted between two remote users is extremely low. Here we propose a quantum repeater protocol based on cat codes with a few quantum memories or graph states as additional resources. This allows us to considerably increase the SKR by several orders of magnitude. Our findings provide valuable insights for designing efficient quantum repeater systems, advancing the feasibility and performance of quantum communication over long distances.
Abstract Quantum error correction codes based on continuous variables play an important role for the implementation of quantum communication systems. A natural application of such codes occurs within quantum repeater systems which are used to combat severe channel losses and local gate errors. In particular, channel loss drastically reduces the distance of communication between remote users. Here, a cavity‐quantum electrodynamics (QED) based repeater scheme is considered to address the losses in the quantum channel. This repeater scheme relies on the transmission of a specific class of rotationally invariant error‐correcting codes. Several rotation‐symmetric bosonic codes (RSBCs) are compared for encoding the initial states of two remote users connected by a quantum repeater network against the convention of the cat codes and the performance of the system is quantified by using the secret key rate. In particular, the number of stations required to exchange a secret key over a fixed distance is determined and establish the resource overhead. For higher‐loss codes, the results show that a secret key rate (SKR) value of 0.01 bit per channel use can be achieved at a distance of 10000 km, with an elementary distance of 1.3 km.
Abstract We propose an architecture of quantum-error-correction-based quantum repeaters that combines techniques used in discrete- and continuous-variable quantum information. Specifically, we propose to encode the transmitted qubits in a concatenated code consisting of two levels. On the first level we use a continuous-variable GKP code encoding the qubit in a single bosonic mode. On the second level we use a small discrete-variable code. Such an architecture has two important features. Firstly, errors on each of the two levels are corrected in repeaters of two different types. This enables for achieving performance needed in practical scenarios with a reduced cost with respect to an architecture for which all repeaters are the same. Secondly, the use of continuous-variable GKP code on the lower level generates additional analog information which enhances the error-correcting capabilities of the second-level code such that long-distance communication becomes possible with encodings consisting of only four or seven optical modes.
Abstract A quantum repeater scheme based on cavity‐quantum electrodynamics (QED) and quantum error correction of channel loss via rotation‐symmetric bosonic codes (RSBCs) is proposed to distribute atomic entangled states over long distances without memories and at high clock rates. In this scheme, controlled rotation gates, i.e., phase shifts of the propagating light modes conditioned upon the state of an atom placed in a cavity, provide a mechanism both for the entangled‐state preparations and for the error syndrome identifications. In order to assess the performance of this repeater protocol, an explicit instance of RSBCs—multicomponent cat codes—are studied quantitatively. It is found that the total fidelity and the success probability for quantum communication over a long distance (such as 1000 km) both can almost approach unity provided a small enough elementary distance between stations (smaller than 0.1 or 0.01 km) and rather low local losses (up to 0.1%) are considered. In a quantum key distribution application, secret key rates can become correspondingly high, both per channel use, beating the repeaterless bound, and per second thanks to the relatively high clock rates of the memoryless scheme. Based upon the cavity‐QED setting, this scheme can be realized at room temperature and at optical frequencies.
Quantum network coding can effectively improve the aggregate throughput of quantum networks and alleviate bottlenecks caused by topological constraints. Most of previous schemes are dedicated to the efficient teleportation of unknown quantum states in a quantum network. Herein a proposal for transmission of deterministic known states over quantum repeater network based on quantum measurements. We show that the new protocol offers advantages over three aspects. Firstly, the senders in our protocol obtain the knowledge of the quantum state to be transmitted, which enables the autonomy of quantum network transmission. Secondly, we study the quantum repeater network coding for long-distance deterministic quantum state communication. Quantum repeater network initialization requires entanglement distribution only among neighboring nodes, greatly saving entanglement resources, channel overhead and storage costs. Thirdly, based on Pauli measurements and local complementation, new protocol realizes parallel coding operations to mitigate latency issues sufficiently. Combining quantum network coding and quantum remote state preparation technology, our protocol provides an important solution for deterministic known states transmission over large-scale quantum network in the future.
Most quantum communication tasks need to rely on the transmission of quantum signals over long distances. Unfortunately, transmission of such signals is most often limited by losses in the channel, the same issue that affects classical communication. Simple signal amplification provides an elegant solution for the classical world, but this is not possible in the quantum world, as the no-cloning theorem forbids such an operation and, thus, an alternative approach, a quantum repeater, is needed. Quantum repeaters enable one to create a known maximally entangled state between the end points of the network by first segmenting the network into pieces, creating entanglement between the segments, and then, connecting those entanglement to create the required long range entanglement. Quantum teleportation then allows an unknown quantum message to be transmitted between them using the long-range entangled state. This form of quantum communication will be at the heart of the future quantum Internet. In this review, we will detail various approaches to quantum repeaters, and discuss their expected performance and limitations.