Capacities of Entanglement Distribution from a Central Source

IEEE Xplore

Scientists have studied a practical version of entanglement distribution, which is a core task for quantum networks. Instead of assuming that a user can create a large entangled state, keep part of it perfectly stored in local memory, and send the rest to other users, the authors consider a more realistic setup: a central source creates the entangled state and sends each piece through a separate noisy quantum channel to different receivers. After that, the receivers use only local quantum operations plus unlimited classical communication to recover useful entanglement.

This study is important for quantum information processing, because high-quality shared entanglement is the resource behind tasks such as quantum key distribution, distributed computing, secret sharing, and networked sensing. It is also important for building quantum networks, because the scientists replaced idealized assumptions with a model closer to how early quantum internet hardware may actually work: a few trusted or powerful central stations serving many users over imperfect links.

The paper authors, Xinan Chen, Stefano Chessa, Ian George, Felix Leditzky, and Eric Chitambar, conducted this research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.