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Applied Physics Letters

Resource-efficient parallel entanglement generation for multinode quantum networks via time-bin multiplexing

Wenbo Zhang, Jing Zheng, Y Wang, Tao Li

Published May 25, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nonlocal entanglement generation among multiple remote quantum nodes provides a critical foundation for a variety of counterintuitive quantum applications. The exponential loss of photons transmitting over optical fibers sets an upper limit for entangling these quantum nodes. Here, we propose a resource-efficient and parallel protocol for entangling multiple remote quantum nodes via time-bin multiplexing. The transmission of a single photon with qudit-encoding in the time-bin mode enables entangling multiple stationary qubits in parallel when single photons and individual stationary qubit interfaces are used and photon-state modulations are properly introduced before subsequently impinging the photon into each interface. Our protocol can generate parallel multipartite entanglement among (N≥3) quantum nodes with the dimension of the photonic time bins independent of N, exponentially reducing the requirements for the coherence time of the stationary qubits and for the complexity of the photonic modulations. These distinct features make our protocol particularly advantageous for the development of multinode quantum networks.

DOI
10.1063/5.0336696

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Nonlocal entanglement generation among multiple remote quantum nodes provides a critical foundation for a variety of counterintuitive quantum applications. The exponential loss of photons transmitting over optical fibers sets an upper limit for entangling these quantum nodes. Here, we propose a resource-efficient and parallel protocol for entangling multiple remote quantum nodes via time-bin multiplexing. The transmission of a single photon with qudit-encoding in the time-bin mode enables entangling multiple stationary qubits in parallel when single photons and individual stationary qubit interfaces are used and photon-state modulations are properly introduced before subsequently impinging the photon into each interface. Our protocol can generate parallel multipartite entanglement among (N≥3) quantum nodes with the dimension of the photonic time bins independent of N, exponentially reducing the requirements for the coherence time of the stationary qubits and for the complexity of the photonic modulations. These distinct features make our protocol particularly advantageous for the development of multinode quantum networks.
Nonlocal entanglement generation among multiple remote quantum nodes provides a critical foundation for a variety of counterintuitive quantum applications. The exponential loss of photons transmitting over optical fibers sets an upper limit for entangling these quantum nodes. Here, we propose a resource-efficient and parallel protocol for entangling multiple remote quantum nodes via time-bin multiplexing. The transmission of a single photon with qudit-encoding in the time-bin mode enables entangling multiple stationary qubits in parallel, when single photons and individual stationary qubits interfaces are used and photon-state modulations are properly introduced before subsequently impinging the photon into each interface. Our protocol can generate parallel multipartite entanglement among (N≥3N\geq3N≥3) quantum nodes with the dimension of the photonic time bins independent of NNN, exponentially reducing the requirements for the coherence time of the stationary qubits and for the complexity of the photonic modulations. These distinct features make our protocol particularly advantageous for the development of multinode quantum networks.
Quantum networks involving multiqubit entanglement allow exciting applications in quantum communication, quantum sensing, and distributed quantum computation. The efficiency of nonlocal entanglement generation through optical channels drops exponentially with the distance between network nodes. We present a parallel and heralded protocol for generating distributed multiqubit entanglement across multiple nodes. This is achieved by using a high-dimensional single photon that works as a common-data bus connecting all stationary qubits (i.e., silicon-vacancy electron spins), each of which is coupled to a single-sided optical cavity. Parallel multiqubit entangled states are heralded by the detection of the single photon after it interacts with each stationary qubit and passes through each photonic modulation circuit. This parallel protocol can significantly improve the efficiency of distributed entanglement generation and provides a viable route towards distributed multinode quantum networks.
Quantum networks require parallel quantum entanglement between pairs of distant quantum memories (QMs) for practical applications. However, usually one pair of QMs is entangled using a single photonic pulse and multiple pulses are consumed to generate parallel entanglement between pairs of QMs. We propose a multiplexing method for simultaneously entangling multiple pairs of QMs located in two distant nodes. A single photon with high-dimensional encoding first entangles with all QMs in one node, leading to hybrid entanglement between a high-dimensional photon and two-dimensional QMs, and then it interacts with QMs in the other node and converts the hybrid entanglement to entanglement between multiple pairs of QMs in a heralded way. This can significantly increase the efficiency of large-scale quantum networks by reducing the exponential transmission loss via time-bin multiplexing. Furthermore, this protocol presents a specific connection between high-dimensional and two-dimensional quantum systems.
Quantum entanglement between pairs of remote quantum memories (QMs) is a prerequisite for realizing many applications in quantum networks. Here, we present a heralded protocol for the parallel creation of quantum entanglement among multiple pairs of QMs placed in spatially separated nodes, where each QM, encoding a stationary qubit, couples to an optical cavity and deterministically interacts with single photons. Our protocol utilizes an entangled photon pair encoded in the high-dimensional time-bin degree of freedom to simultaneously entangle multiple QM pairs, and is efficient in terms of reducing the time consumption and photon loss during transmission. Furthermore, our approach can be extended to simultaneously support spatial-temporal multiplexing, as its success is heralded by the detection of single photons. These distinguishing features make our protocol particularly useful for long-distance quantum communication and large-scale quantum networks.
Nonlocal quantum entanglement is a fundamental resource for future quantum networks. However, the efficiency of generating nonlocal entanglement between distant nodes is severely limited by the exponential loss incurred when locally generated entangled states are distributed through lossy quantum channels. This limitation becomes more pronounced in practical scenarios requiring the simultaneous distribution of multiple entangled pairs. Although classical multiplexing approaches, such as spatial, temporal, and frequency multiplexing, can increase the nonlocal entanglement generation rate, they do not improve the single-shot transmission efficiency. In contrast, quantum multiplexing, which can be generated by high-dimensional encoding of single photons, allows for the parallel generation of multiple nonlocal entangled pairs in a single transmission round, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of nonlocal entanglement generation. Quantum multiplexing thus presents a promising route toward scalable quantum networks. This review introduces the mechanisms of generating nonlocal entanglement through quantum multiplexing, and focuses on two main methods: using high-dimensional single-photon encoding and high-dimensional biphoton entanglement distribution. Then it examines how quantum multiplexing can accelerate the generation of nonlocal quantum logical entanglement. Finally, it briefly explores the potential of quantum multiplexing for building large-scale quantum networks.
Entanglement distributed over a set of individually addressable qubit nodes is the enabling resource for a plethora of applications ranging from tests of quantum physics to secure and modular quantum information networks. Entanglement between two memory qubits has been realized on various platforms, but extension to more nodes remains rare and formidably challenging. The principal bottleneck is the efficiency of the light-matter interfaces connecting the qubit nodes to their communication channels. Here, we efficiently generate, distribute and store a three-qubit entangled state across three independent laboratories containing single atoms coupled to optical resonators. We sequentially entangle the atoms pairwise, two by heralded photonic entanglement swapping and two by heralded state transfer. We reach a three-qubit entanglement fidelity of 77(1)% and an entanglement lifetime above 200us. The observed qubit correlations violate Mermin's inequality while closing the detection loophole. Our three-qubit entanglement-generation efficiency is 0.16%. This unprecedented efficiency of our scheme establishes a clear route towards multi-node quantum networks.