Toward multi-purpose quantum communication networks: from theory to protocol implementation

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Hanouz, Lucas, Kaplan, Marc, Tournebize, Jean-Sébastien Kersaint, Liao, Chin-te, Marin, Anne
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Hanouz, Lucas
Kaplan, Marc
Tournebize, Jean-Sébastien Kersaint
Liao, Chin-te
Marin, Anne
author_facet Hanouz, Lucas
Kaplan, Marc
Tournebize, Jean-Sébastien Kersaint
Liao, Chin-te
Marin, Anne
contents Most quantum communication networks around the world are used for a single task: quantum key distribution. In order to initiate the transition to multi-purpose quantum communication networks, we demonstrate the implementation of two different tasks on the same quantum key distribution hardware. Specifically, we focus on quantum oblivious transfer and quantum tokens. Our main contribution is to establish a methodology that greatly simplifies the expertise required to achieve the deployment, assess its performance, and evaluate its feasibility at a large scale. The implementation that we present is full-stack. It is based on a development framework that allows running user-defined applications both with simulated or real quantum communication backend. The hardware used for the implementation is VeriQloud's Qline. The simulation backend reproduces exactly the inputs and outputs of the real hardware, but also its losses and errors. It can therefore be used to validate the implementation before running it on the real hardware. The sources of the software that we use are fully open, making our research reproducible. The security of the implementations on real hardware are discussed with respect to security bounds previously known in the literature. We also discuss the engineering choices that we made in order to make the implementations feasible. By establishing a methodology to evaluate the performance and security of quantum communication protocols, we take a significant step towards industrializing and deploying large-scale, multi-purpose quantum communication networks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_02923
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Toward multi-purpose quantum communication networks: from theory to protocol implementation
Hanouz, Lucas
Kaplan, Marc
Tournebize, Jean-Sébastien Kersaint
Liao, Chin-te
Marin, Anne
Quantum Physics
Cryptography and Security
Most quantum communication networks around the world are used for a single task: quantum key distribution. In order to initiate the transition to multi-purpose quantum communication networks, we demonstrate the implementation of two different tasks on the same quantum key distribution hardware. Specifically, we focus on quantum oblivious transfer and quantum tokens. Our main contribution is to establish a methodology that greatly simplifies the expertise required to achieve the deployment, assess its performance, and evaluate its feasibility at a large scale. The implementation that we present is full-stack. It is based on a development framework that allows running user-defined applications both with simulated or real quantum communication backend. The hardware used for the implementation is VeriQloud's Qline. The simulation backend reproduces exactly the inputs and outputs of the real hardware, but also its losses and errors. It can therefore be used to validate the implementation before running it on the real hardware. The sources of the software that we use are fully open, making our research reproducible. The security of the implementations on real hardware are discussed with respect to security bounds previously known in the literature. We also discuss the engineering choices that we made in order to make the implementations feasible. By establishing a methodology to evaluate the performance and security of quantum communication protocols, we take a significant step towards industrializing and deploying large-scale, multi-purpose quantum communication networks.
title Toward multi-purpose quantum communication networks: from theory to protocol implementation
topic Quantum Physics
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.02923