2024/05/07 by Wan Zo, Zo, Wan, Bohdan Bilash +13 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.03951
openalex publication_date 2024/05/07 · openalex created_date 2024/05/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Entanglement shared between distant parties is a key resource in quantum networks. However, photon losses in quantum channels significantly reduce the success probability of entanglement sharing, which scales quadratically with the channel transmission. Quantum repeaters using entanglement swapping can mitigate this effect, but usually require high-performance photonic quantum memories to synchronize photonic qubits. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally investigate an entanglement swapping protocol using photon-number-encoded states that can effectively alleviate quantum channel losses without requiring photonic quantum memories. We demonstrate that the protocol exhibits a success probability scaling linearly with the channel transmission. Furthermore, we show that while unbalanced channel losses can degrade the shared entanglement, this effect can be compensated by optimally adjusting the initial entangled states. Our results highlight the potential of photon-number encoding for realizing robust entanglement distribution in lossy quantum networks.