Connecting the Quantum Internet with Novel ‘Hybrid Entanglement Swapping Protocol”

(Phys.org) Researchers at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory in Paris have succeeded in implementing a novel “hybrid” entanglement swapping protocol, bringing within reach the connection of disparate platforms in a future, heterogeneously structured, quantum internet.
Prof. Julien Laurat and his colleagues at LKB (Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-Université PSL, Collège de France), with collaborators at NIST Boulder, have announced an important step toward the development of heterogeneous quantum networks. The team has demonstrated a way of connecting different types of quantum nodes that are not necessarily based on the same type of encoding. Enabling such a type of link is a crucial requirement for the interconnection of different physical platforms that can perform dedicated quantum-enhanced tasks.
“This work is a stepping stone for further investigations into the implementation of heterogeneous quantum networks,” says Tom Darras, a graduate student at LKB and one of the leading authors of the paper. “So far, two communities were developing quantum communication using different routes. Now that the bridge has been built, we expect to see, by using the advantages of each branch, the emergence of novel hybrid scenarios going much further than current developments.”