An efficient Progressive Swapping to the Middle distribution protocol adapted to imperfect quantum memories in quantum networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mesny, Claire, Guillemin, Fabrice, Goursaud, Claire
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Mesny, Claire
Guillemin, Fabrice
Goursaud, Claire
author_facet Mesny, Claire
Guillemin, Fabrice
Goursaud, Claire
contents The distribution of entangled pairs of photons on the links composing a quantum network, combined with Bell state measurements and teleportation, is the basic apparatus to transfer quantum bits (qubits) over long distances. Entanglement distribution establishes an end-to-end entangled pair while consuming intermediate pairs on links and holding them for a certain time period. The technical literature identifies two main kinds of protocols, parallel and sequential ones, the latter having an advantage in resource consumption over the former. In this paper, we introduce an efficient swapping protocol called Progressive Swapping to the Middle (PSM) as it combines the existing Progressive Swapping (PS) protocol from both extremities of a path that meet in the middle where the received pairs are swapped. We compare PSM with two parallel protocols and PS; in our evaluation, we take into account imperfect memories and fidelity degradation. We demonstrate that PSM yields a much better link probability than PS while keeping a reasonable link fidelity, and shows an advantage in resource consumption over other protocols.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_31493
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An efficient Progressive Swapping to the Middle distribution protocol adapted to imperfect quantum memories in quantum networks
Mesny, Claire
Guillemin, Fabrice
Goursaud, Claire
Quantum Physics
Networking and Internet Architecture
The distribution of entangled pairs of photons on the links composing a quantum network, combined with Bell state measurements and teleportation, is the basic apparatus to transfer quantum bits (qubits) over long distances. Entanglement distribution establishes an end-to-end entangled pair while consuming intermediate pairs on links and holding them for a certain time period. The technical literature identifies two main kinds of protocols, parallel and sequential ones, the latter having an advantage in resource consumption over the former. In this paper, we introduce an efficient swapping protocol called Progressive Swapping to the Middle (PSM) as it combines the existing Progressive Swapping (PS) protocol from both extremities of a path that meet in the middle where the received pairs are swapped. We compare PSM with two parallel protocols and PS; in our evaluation, we take into account imperfect memories and fidelity degradation. We demonstrate that PSM yields a much better link probability than PS while keeping a reasonable link fidelity, and shows an advantage in resource consumption over other protocols.
title An efficient Progressive Swapping to the Middle distribution protocol adapted to imperfect quantum memories in quantum networks
topic Quantum Physics
Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.31493