A Quantum Information Preserving Photonic Switch for Scalable Quantum Networks
Jiapeng Zhao, Stephane Vinet, Amir Minoofar, Michael Kilzer, L. C. Wang, Galan Moody, Vijoy Pandey, Ramana Kompella, Reza Nejabati
Abstract
Abstract Current quantum networks are largely constrained to static, point-to-point links, which lack the scalability and resource efficiency required for distributed quantum computing, quantum sensing, and the emerging quantum internet. A critical barrier to progress is the absence of a switching technology capable of routing fragile quantum states without inducing decoherence or distinguishability. Here, we propose the Universal Quantum Switch architecture, a foundational building block allowing non-blocking, encoding-agnostic routing of quantum information, as well as seamless modality conversion between disparate quantum platforms. An integrated photonic prototype in thin-film lithium niobate is developed for polarization entanglement, allowing a reconfiguration rate up to 1 GHz. We experimentally demonstrate robust electro-optic switching of arbitrary entangled states at 1 MHz with an average fidelity of $96\%$ and a purity of 1, which satisfies the requirement of dynamic distributed quantum error correction between arbitrary quantum computing nodes, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time. Complementing these experimental results, we project the architecture's scalability, showing dimension-independent decoherence, and provide a scalable, interoperable building block for heterogeneous quantum network fabrics.