The combination of quantum and telecommunication networks enables to revolutionize the way information is used, offering unparalleled capabilities and making it an ideal choice for many critical applications. In this sense, quantum protocols generally have a unique requirement to have strict time synchronization in order to operate, which generally consume quantum resources of part of […]
Entanglement routing in near-term quantum networks consists of choosing the optimal sequence of short-range entanglements to combine through swapping operations to establish end-to-end entanglement between two distant nodes. Similar to traditional routing technologies, a quantum routing protocol uses network information to choose the best paths to satisfy a set of end-to-end entanglement requests. However, in […]
Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is a cryptographic protocol that leverages quantum mechanics to distribute a secret among multiple parties. With respect to the classical counterpart, in QSS, the secret is encoded into quantum states and shared by a dealer such that only an authorized subsets of participants, i.e., the players, can reconstruct it. Several state-of-the-art […]
In this article, we introduce a generalization of one-way superdense coding to two-way communication protocols for transmitting classical bits by using entangled quantum pairs. The proposed protocol jointly addresses the provision of entangled pairs and superdense coding, introducing an integrated approach for managing entanglement within the communication protocol. To assess the performance of the proposed […]
Network utility maximization (NUM) addresses the problem of allocating resources fairly within a network and explores the ways to achieve optimal allocation in real-world networks. Although extensively studied in classical networks, NUM is an emerging area of research in the context of quantum networks. In this work, we consider the quantum network utility maximization (QNUM) […]
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides a secure method to exchange encrypted information between two parties in a quantum communication infrastructure (QCI). The primary challenge in deploying a QCI is the cost of using optical fibers and trusted repeater nodes (TRNs). Practical systems combine quantum and classical channels on the same fiber to reduce the cost […]
In this article, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel synchronization method for quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. The method consists of maximizing the visibility of frequency-domain interference of optical sidebands about an optical carrier at the receiver node. The sidebands are generated by phase modulation of the optical carrier by an radio-frequency (RF) signal […]
Microwave quantum information networks require reliable transmission of single-photon propagating modes over lossy channels. In this article, we propose a microwave noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) suitable to circumvent the losses incurred by a flying photon undergoing an amplitude damping channel (ADC). The proposed model is constructed by engineering a simple 1-D four-node cluster state. Contrary […]
Existing classical optical network infrastructure cannot be immediately used for quantum network applications due to photon loss. The first step toward enabling quantum networks is the integration of quantum repeaters into optical networks. However, the expenses and intrinsic noise inherent in quantum hardware underscore the need for an efficient deployment strategy that optimizes the placement […]
Detectors capable of resolving the number of photons are essential in many applications, ranging from classic photonics to quantum optics and quantum communication. In particular, photon-number-resolving detectors based on arrays of superconducting nanostrips can offer a high detection efficiency, a low dark count rate, and a recovery time of a few nanoseconds. In this work, […]