The rapid expansion and diversity of quantum communication protocols are accelerating the development of the Quantum Internet-a global network interconnecting heterogeneous quantum communication nodes and systems. A key challenge in this effort is achieving all-quantum mode adaptation, which is essential for enabling interoperability among quantum nodes and enhancing the efficiency and scalability of quantum information transmission. This paper introduces a mathematical framework for all-quantum mode adaptation, centered on three core mechanisms: mode expansion, mode reduction, and mode mapping. These processes are fundamental to managing compatibility across different quantum signal encodings. By leveraging multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) of photons, such as time, path, and polarization, we demonstrate the feasibility of mode-adaptable all-quantum processors capable of dynamically interfacing with varied quantum communication environments. Our results address critical real-world challenges in building a flexible, scalable, and interoperable Quantum Internet, laying a basis for architecture-level integration of heterogeneous quantum technologies.
The rapid expansion and diversity of quantum communication protocols are accelerating the development of the Quantum Internet-a global network interconnecting heterogeneous quantum communication nodes and systems. A key challenge in this effort is achieving all-quantum mode adaptation, which is essential for enabling interoperability among quantum nodes and enhancing the efficiency and scalability of quantum information transmission. This paper introduces a mathematical framework for all-quantum mode adaptation, centered on three core mechanisms: mode expansion, mode reduction, and mode mapping. These processes are fundamental to managing compatibility across different quantum signal encodings. By leveraging multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) of photons, such as time, path, and polarization, we demonstrate the feasibility of mode-adaptable all-quantum processors capable of dynamically interfacing with varied quantum communication environments. Our results address critical real-world challenges in building a flexible, scalable, and interoperable Quantum Internet, laying a basis for architecture-level integration of heterogeneous quantum technologies.
The diversity of quantum communication protocols and their rapid growth entail the development of the Quantum Internet, the interconnection of various quantum communication nodes and systems. One of the challenges posed by this development is all-quantum mode adaptation, which is essential for adapting different quantum nodes to the common network, enhancing the efficiency and scalability of quantum information transmission. This paper investigates the mathematical frameworks of all-quantum mode adaptation, focusing on three essential elements-mode expansion, mode reduction, and mode mapping-which are crucial for managing compatibility among different quantum signals. By leveraging various degrees of freedom of photons, we demonstrate the possibility of adaptable all-quantum processors that can dynamically adjust to different communication environments, addressing real-world challenges in the Quantum Internet.
While quantum communications technology evolves, the promise of a Quantum Internet becomes closer and different proposals to build it have been already proposed, addressing different aspects of what such a global network would imply. We believe a consistent reference architecture model for the Quantum Internet is required to progress in its evolution, addressing the different dimensions such a network has to consider, including the interaction with the "classical" Internet. Such a reference architecture would provide a framework for the integration of the protocols applicable to it, and enable the advance of the applications based on it. As a reference model, it should allow the proposition and analysis of different approaches and solutions, providing a framework to reason about these solutions and their interplay to achieve a global Quantum-enabled open network.Such a model has to satisfy three essential requirements: agility, enabling it to adapt to the evolution of quantum communications base technologies, sustainability, with open availability in technological and economical terms, and pliability, being able to integrate with the operations and management procedures in current networks. This paper describes the reference architecture framework currently being discussed in the QIRG (Quantum Internet Research Group) of IRTF, and intended to provide a conceptual common framework for the integration of the different technology proposals to build the Quantum Internet infrastructure and its convergence with the current Internet. The framework is based on the already extensive experience in the deployment and operation of QKD infrastructures and on recent initiatives focused on the integration of networks and services.
Quantum computing communication interfaces are emerging as a fundamental technology for enabling seamless interaction between quantum processors, classical computing systems, cloud infrastructures, and distributed quantum networks. The development of efficient communication interfaces is essential to address challenges such as quantum state transmission, synchronization, error correction, latency, scalability, and interoperability across heterogeneous computing environments. This paper presents a comprehensive study of quantum computing communication interfaces by examining their architecture, communication protocols, hardware components, and software integration mechanisms. The proposed framework incorporates quantum-classical hybrid communication, quantum networking principles, secure quantum key distribution, adaptive resource management, and intelligent error mitigation techniques to improve communication reliability and computational efficiency. Furthermore, the study investigates the role of emerging technologies such as quantum internet, photonic interconnects, edge-cloud integration, and artificial intelligence in enhancing interface performance. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed communication interface architecture achieves reduced communication latency, improved transmission fidelity, enhanced scalability, optimized resource utilization, and stronger security compared with conventional quantum communication approaches. The findings indicate that intelligent quantum communication interfaces can significantly accelerate the practical deployment of distributed quantum computing systems and future large-scale quantum applications.
Telecommunication networks must embrace new cutting-edge functions, which are to be added to the diverse set of functions already existing. When conceived, network architectures are often reduced to narrow sets of components, planes or layers. This applies to both traditional descriptions —e.g., OSI layers— and novel ones. For quantum networks, the current academic and standardized descriptions tend to include only QKD-specific components. This paper proposes a holistic view of quantum networks that exploits the combined capabilities of traditional networks with state-of-the-art technologies, to enable new modes of communication.
The emergence of Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) presents a critical threat to classical cryptographic systems, particularly widely adopted protocols such as RSA, Diffie-Hellman (DH), and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Given their extensive use in the financial sector, the advent of quantum adversaries compels banking institutions to proactively develop and adopt quantum-safe communication mechanisms. This paper introduces a hybrid quantum-safe architecture, orchestrated via Software-Defined Networking (SDN) key distribution. The proposed framework enables the early integration of Classical Cryptography (CC), Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) within a Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network (DMVPN) environment, providing highly scalable, full-mesh, site-to-site encrypted communications for enterprise networks. This is particularly relevant at a time when PQC algorithms have not yet been incorporated into finalized IPsec standards. The architecture has been validated across a five-node testbed comprising three physical nodes within a campus network in Madrid and two private-cloud nodes located in the north of Spain and Mexico. The deployment leverages a heterogeneous mix of physical and virtual devices, diverse technology providers, Discrete Variable QKD (DV-QKD) and Continuous Variable QKD (CV-QKD) implementations, and mutually incompatible key-delivery interfaces (ETSI004, ETSI014 and Cisco SKIP), demonstrating flexibility, scalability, and interoperability across environments. Through this framework, we demonstrate that quantum-safe communication in financial networks is not only technically feasible but also scalable, interoperable, and resilient. The proposed architecture establishes a robust, flexible, and future-proof foundation for secure financial communications in the era of quantum computing.