We introduce the DODAG-X protocol for multipartite entanglement distribution in quantum networks. Leveraging the power of Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graphs (DODAGs), our protocol optimizes resource consumption and enhances robustness to noise in dynamic and lossy networks. Implementing a variation on the X-protocol within the DODAG, we minimize graph verification and path-finding calculations, significantly reducing computational overhead when compared to other entanglement routing schemes. Additionally, our benchmarks on grid lattice and small-world topologies reveal substantial measurement reduction compared to existing protocols. We demonstrate the success of DODAG-X for generating maximal three-party entanglement in arbitrary networks, and describe the potential for scaling to generic n-party entanglement. The DODAG-X protocol provides a scalable and efficient solution for entanglement routing, advancing current techniques for reliable quantum communication and network applications.
We introduce the DODAG-X protocol for multipartite entanglement distribution in quantum networks. Leveraging the power of Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graphs (DODAGs), our protocol optimizes resource consumption and enhances robustness to noise in dynamic and lossy networks. Implementing a variation on the X-protocol within the DODAG, we minimize graph verification and path-finding calculations, significantly reducing computational overhead when compared to other entanglement routing schemes. Additionally, our benchmarks on grid lattice and small-world topologies reveal substantial measurement reduction compared to existing protocols. We demonstrate the success of DODAG-X for generating maximal three-party entanglement in arbitrary networks, and describe the potential for scaling to generic n-party entanglement. The DODAG-X protocol provides a scalable and efficient solution for entanglement routing, advancing current techniques for reliable quantum communication and network applications.
Distributing multipartite entanglement over a quantum network means routing it through a shared resource state. Existing measurement-based schemes search for a fresh path and re-verify the topology before every request, placing a network-wide classical exchange on the critical path of each one. We introduce DODAG-X, which removes it. A single destination-oriented directed acyclic graph spanning tree is computed once and reused across all requests, so each party's route is recovered by following parent pointers instead of by a new search. The per-request routing cost drops from O(N) to O(N) on symmetric grids and to O(logN) on small-world networks for N nodes, and only the N−1 tree links need be maintained under link loss. Routing on the sparse tree also shrinks the neighborhoods cleared to isolate the parties, lowering measurements per request by roughly 19\% on small-world graphs and up to 34\% on moderately dense, strongly rewired ones; on a fixed tree the two protocols use identical counts. We prove correctness for up to three parties with no restriction on topology, and prove a sufficient condition under which one application yields an n-party GHZ state for any n. We then delimit it, exhibiting requests outside the hypothesis whose output is multipartite entangled yet in a different local-Clifford class. Under a discrete-time Markov failure model the classical repair layer matches the reachability of full-graph re-search up to a failed-edge fraction of one half, and a coherence criterion relating tree depth to memory lifetime identifies the viable hardware platforms.
In entanglement distribution networks, communication between two nodes necessitates the generation of end-to-end entanglement by entanglement swapping at intermediate nodes. Efficiently creating end-to-end entanglements over long distances is a key objective. In our prior study on asynchronous routing, we enhanced these entanglement rates by leveraging solely the local knowledge of the node's entanglement links. This was achieved by creating a tree structure, particularly a destination-oriented directed acyclic graph (DODAG) or a spanning tree, eliminating synchronous operations and conserving unused entanglement links. In this article, we present a multi-tree approach with multiple DODAGs designed to improve end-to-end entanglement rates in large-scale networks, specifically catering to a range of network topologies, including grids and barbells, as well as realistic topologies found in research testbeds like ESnet and Internet2. Our simulations show a marked improvement in end-to-end entanglement rates for specific topologies compared to the single-tree method. This study underscores the promise of asynchronous routing schemes in quantum networks, highlighting the effectiveness of asynchronous routing across different network topologies and proposing a superior routing tactic.
Distributing entanglement among multiple users is a fundamental problem in quantum networks, requiring an efficient solution. In this work, a protocol is proposed for extracting maximally entangled ($|{\text{GHZ}}_{n}\ensuremath{\rangle}$) states for any number of parties in a quantum network. It is based on the graph-state formalism and requires minimal assumptions on the network state. The protocol only requires local measurements at the network nodes and just a single-qubit memory per user. Existing protocols on bipartite entanglement routing are also improved for specific nearest-neighbor network architectures. To this end, the concept of majorization is utilized to establish a hierarchy among different paths in a network based on their efficacy. This approach utilizes the symmetry of the underlying graph state to obtain better-performing algorithms.
Building large-scale quantum computers, essential to demonstrating quantum advantage, is a key challenge. Quantum networks can help address this challenge by enabling the construction of large, robust, and more capable quantum computing platforms by connecting smaller quantum computers. Moreover, unlike classical systems, quantum networks can enable fully secured long-distance communication. Thus, quantum networks lie at the heart of the success of future quantum information technologies. In quantum networks, multipartite entangled states distributed over the network help implement and support many quantum network applications for communications, sensing, and computing. Our work focuses on developing optimal techniques to generate and distribute multipartite entanglement states efficiently. Prior works on generating general multipartite entanglement states have focused on the objective of minimizing the number of maximally entangled pairs while ignoring the heterogeneity of the network nodes and links as well as the stochastic nature of underlying processes. In this work, we develop a hypergraph-based linear programming framework that delivers optimal (under certain assumptions) generation schemes for general multipartite entanglement represented by graph states, under the network resources, decoherence, and fidelity constraints, while considering the stochasticity of the underlying processes. We illustrate our technique by developing generation schemes for the special cases of path and tree graph states and discuss optimized generation schemes for more general classes of graph states. Using extensive simulations over a quantum network simulator, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our developed techniques and show that they outperform prior known schemes by up to orders of magnitude.
Multiparty quantum key distribution (QKD) is useful for many applications that involve secure communication or collaboration among multiple parties. While it can be achieved using pairwise QKD, a more efficient approach is to achieve it using multipartite entanglement distributed over quantum networks that connect the multiple parties. Existing studies on multipartite entanglement distribution, however, are not designed for multiparty QKD, and hence do not aim to maximize secret key generation rate. In this paper, we design efficient strategies for multiparty QKD over quantum networks. For 3-party QKD, we derive closed-form expressions for analyzing key distribution over quantum networks. We then use it to develop an efficient strategy for 3-party QKD by packing multiple stars that connect the 3 parties. For the general form of N-party QKD, we develop an approach that packs multiple trees to connect the N parties, while directly incorporating the estimated key rates on network paths. Extensive evaluation of our strategies, in both grid and random graphs, under a wide range of settings, demonstrates that our schemes achieve high key rate, which degrades gracefully when increasing the number of parties.
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.