Entanglement swapping across a five-node relay in a multiplexed quantum-classical network

@misc{cameron2026entanglement,
  title = {{Entanglement swapping across a five-node relay in a multiplexed quantum-classical network}},
  author = {Andrew R. Cameron and Jordan M. Thomas and Alexandru Macridin and Si Xie and Raju Valivarthi and Soumya S. Ghosh and Yerko Muñoz Barros and Neil Sinclair and Panagiotis Spentzouris and Maria Spiropulu and Prem Kumar and Cristián Peña},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.18899},
  eprint = {2609.18899},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18899},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Entanglement swapping across a five-node relay in a multiplexed quantum-classical network
AU  - Andrew R. Cameron
AU  - Jordan M. Thomas
AU  - Alexandru Macridin
AU  - Si Xie
AU  - Raju Valivarthi
AU  - Soumya S. Ghosh
AU  - Yerko Muñoz Barros
AU  - Neil Sinclair
AU  - Panagiotis Spentzouris
AU  - Maria Spiropulu
AU  - Prem Kumar
AU  - Cristián Peña
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/24
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.18899
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18899
AB  - Quantum networks are resources for scaling quantum computers and distributed sensing technologies while offering post-quantum security benefits. Teleporting non-classical resources like entanglement, via so called entanglement swapping, is essential for networks in particular overcoming rate-loss limits via quantum repeaters. Deploying these systems on real infrastructure will likely require multiplexing photonic qubits into fibers carrying 'classical' light encoding standard Internet communications and control plane signals for multi-node quantum protocols. Here, we report the first demonstration of entanglement swapping and conventional communications operating over the same fibers. Entanglement is swapped across a five-node quantum relay topology connected by four long-distance fibers, each populated with classical data signals. Time-bin entangled photons in the C-band are multiplexed alongside C-band classical signals using dense-wavelength division multiplexing, introducing noise photons generated by high-power classical light. We experimentally and theoretically characterize the trade-off between quantum fidelity and Raman noise photons. Entanglement swapping is demonstrated over a maximum fiber length of 40 km (four 10-km fibers) while simultaneously transmitting 10-Gbps classical data through all fibers. These results represent a significant advancement in the demonstrated complexity of coexisting quantum and classical networks and provide a roadmap for achieving the widespread deployment of advanced quantum technologies.
ER  -