Letter abstract
Nature Physics 3, 256 - 259 (2007)
Published online: 25 February 2007 | doi:10.1038/nphys549
Subject Categories: Quantum physics | Information theory and computation | Condensed-matter physics
Entanglement percolation in quantum networks
Antonio Acín1,2,4, J. Ignacio Cirac3,4 & Maciej Lewenstein1,2,4
Quantum networks are composed of nodes that can send and receive quantum states by exchanging photons1. Their goal is to facilitate quantum communication between any nodes, something that can be used to send secret messages in a secure way2, 3, and to communicate more efficiently than in classical networks4. These goals can be achieved, for instance, via teleportation5. Here we show that the design of efficient quantum-communication protocols in quantum networks involves intriguing quantum phenomena, depending both on the way the nodes are connected and on the entanglement between them. These phenomena can be used to design protocols that overcome the exponential decrease of signals with the number of nodes. We relate the problem of establishing maximally entangled states between nodes to classical percolation in statistical mechanics6, and demonstrate that phase transitions7 can be used to optimize the operation of quantum networks.
- ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, E-08860, Castelldefels, Spain
- ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, E-08010, Barcelona, Spain
- Max-Planck Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748, Garching, Germany
- These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence to: J. Ignacio Cirac3,4 e-mail: Ignacio.Cirac@mpq.mpg.de
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