Lessons Learned on the Interface between Quantum and Conventional Networking

Abstract

The future Quantum Internet is expected to be based on a hybrid architecture with core quantum transport capabilities complemented by conventional networking. Practical and foundational considerations indicate the need for conventional control and data planes that (i) utilize extensive existing telecommunications fiber infrastructure, and (ii) provide parallel conventional data channels needed for quantum networking protocols. We propose a quantum-conventional network (QCN) harness to implement a new architecture to meet these requirements. The QCN control plane carries the control and management traffic, whereas its data plane handles the conventional and quantum data communications. We established a local area QCN connecting three quantum laboratories over dedicated fiber and conventional network connections. We describe considerations and tradeoffs for layering QCN functionalities, informed by our recent quantum entanglement distribution experiments conducted over this network.

Packet Switching in Quantum Networks: A Path to Quantum Internet

“…Which networking infrastructure and protocols can allow for the realization of such a large-scale quantum network? Despite previous proposals [14] there has been no comprehensive answer to this question and proposals for quantum networking protocols and network layers have been limited to particular applications such as entanglement distribution [15][16][17] or quantum key distribution (QKD) [18]. Also from the infrastructure perspective, there has been a quest for classical and quantum network coexistence [19][20][21], although with no clear coexisting protocols or network specifications.…”

“…1) Universality: We define a universal quantum network as one which can accommodate any application, and not just those which rely on entanglement distribution [15][16][17]. A prominent example is the BB84 prepare-and-measure QKD protocol [22] which does not require any entanglement resources.…”