Quantum internet router

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11916601-B2
Application number	US-202217892751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2022
Priority date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication date	Feb 27, 2024
Grant date	Feb 27, 2024

Abstract

A method for quantum routing is performed by a relay network node that is connected to a plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes. The method includes receiving, from a source network node of the plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes, a first command indicating a destination network node. The method includes selecting, based on the destination network node, a next-hop network node from the nearest-neighbor network nodes. The method includes determining a number of current quantum-entangled channels between the relay network node and the next-hop network node. The method includes establishing a new quantum-entangled channel between the relay network node and the next-hop network node in response to the number of current quantum-entangled channels being less than a threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for quantum routing performed by a relay network node, the method comprising:
receiving, from a source network node of a plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes connected to the relay network node, a first command indicating a destination network node;
selecting, based on the destination network node, a next-hop network node from the plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes;
determining a number of current quantum-entangled channels between the relay network node and the next-hop network node; and
establishing a new quantum-entangled channel between the relay network node and the next-hop network node in response to the number of current quantum-entangled channels being less than a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein;
the first command includes a first Bell-state result obtained from a first Bell-state measurement performed at the source network node on (i) a source particle in a source quantum state and (ii) a first entangled particle of a first pair of entangled particles that previously established an input quantum-entangled channel between the relay network node and the source network node; and
the method further comprises transforming, based on the first Bell-state result, a second entangled particle of the first pair of entangled particles into the source quantum state.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
said receiving includes receiving, as part of the first command, a first identifier that identifies the first entangled particle as belonging to the first pair of entangled particles; and
said transforming occurs in response to the first identifier matching a second identifier, the second identifier identifying the second entangled particle as belonging to the first pair of entangled particles.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising receiving the second entangled particle from a control node.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising performing, after said transforming, a second Bell-state measurement on (i) the second entangled particle and (ii) a third entangled particle of a second pair of entangled particles to obtain a second Bell-state result.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said establishing comprises generating the second pair of entangled particles.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein said establishing comprises receiving the third entangled particle from a control node.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein said establishing comprises transmitting a fourth entangled particle of the second pair of entangled particles to the next-hop network node.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising transmitting, to the next-hop network node, a second command indicating the destination node and the second Bell-state result.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said transmitting includes transmitting, as part of the second command, an identifier identifying the third entangled particle as belonging to the second pair of entangled particles.

11. A relay network node for quantum routing, comprising:
a command receiver configured to receive, from a source network node of a plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes connected to the relay network node, a first command indicating a destination network node;
a network-node selector configured to select, based on the destination network node, a next-hop network node from the plurality of nearest-neighbor network nodes; and
an entangled-particle manager configured to:
determine a number of current quantum-entangled channels between the relay network node and the next-hop network node; and
establish a new quantum-entangled channel between the relay network node and the next-hop network node in response to the number of current quantum-entangled channels being less than a threshold.

12. The relay network node of claim 11 , wherein:
the first command includes a first Bell-state result obtained from a first Bell-state measurement performed at the source network node on (i) a source particle in a source quantum state and (ii) a first entangled particle of a first pair of entangled particles establishing an input quantum-entangled channel between the relay network node and the source network node; and
the relay network node further comprises a quantum-state recovery manager configured to transform, based on the first Bell-state result, a second entangled particle of the first pair of entangled particles into the source quantum state.

13. The relay network node of claim 12 ,
the command receiver being configured to receive, as part of the first command, a first identifier that identifies the first entangled particle as belonging to the first pair of entangled particles; and
the quantum-state recovery manager is configured to transform in response to the first identifier matching a second identifier, the second identifier identifying the second entangled particle as belonging to the first pair of entangled particles.

14. The relay network node of claim 12 , the entangled-particle manager being configured to receive the second entangled particle from a control node.

15. The relay network node of claim 12 , further comprising a Bell-state measurement generator configured to perform a second Bell-state measurement on (i) the second entangled particle and (ii) a third entangled particle of a second pair of entangled particles to obtain a second Bell-state result.

16. The relay network node of claim 15 , the entangled-particle manager being configured to receive the third entangled particle from a control node.

17. The relay network node of claim 16 , further comprising the control node.

18. The relay network node of claim 17 , the control node being further configured to transmit a fourth entangled particle of the second pair of entangled particles to the next- hop network node.

19. The relay network node of claim 15 , further comprising a command transmitter configured to transmit, to the next-hope network node, a second command indicating the destination node and the second Bell-state result.

20. The relay network node of claim 19 , the command transmitter being configured to transmit, as part of the second command, an identifier identifying the third entangled particle as belonging to the second pair of entangled particles.

Assignees

• Cable Television Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Huberman Bernardo
• Lund Robert M

Classifications

• H04B10/70 Primary

  Photonic quantum communication · CPC title

• H04Q11/0005

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title

• G06N10/00

  Quantum computing, i.e. information processing based on quantum-mechanical phenomena · CPC title

• H04Q11/0062

  Network aspects · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0073

  Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables · CPC title