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Lessons Learned on the Interface Between Quantum and Conventional Networking

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Driving Scientific and Engineering Discoveries Through the Integration of Experiment, Big Data, and Modeling and Simulation (SMC 2021)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1512))

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Abstract

The future Quantum Internet is expected to be based on a hybrid architecture with core quantum transport capabilities complemented by conventional networking. Practical and foundational considerations indicate the need for conventional control and data planes that (i) utilize extensive existing telecommunications fiber infrastructure, and (ii) provide parallel conventional data channels needed for quantum networking protocols. We propose a quantum-conventional network (QCN) harness to implement a new architecture to meet these requirements. The QCN control plane carries the control and management traffic, whereas its data plane handles the conventional and quantum data communications. We established a local area QCN connecting three quantum laboratories over dedicated fiber and conventional network connections. We describe considerations and tradeoffs for layering QCN functionalities, informed by our recent quantum entanglement distribution experiments conducted over this network.

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Acknowledgments

This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, through the Early Career Research Program and Transparent Optical Quantum Networks for Distributed Science Program (Field Work Proposals ERKJ353 and ERKJ355).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Muneer Alshowkan, Nageswara S. V. Rao, Joseph C. Chapman, Brian P. Williams, Philip G. Evans, Raphael C. Pooser, Joseph M. Lukens & Nicholas A. Peters

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  1. Muneer Alshowkan
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  2. Nageswara S. V. Rao
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  3. Joseph C. Chapman
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  4. Brian P. Williams
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  5. Philip G. Evans
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  6. Raphael C. Pooser
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  7. Joseph M. Lukens
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  8. Nicholas A. Peters
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Muneer Alshowkan or Joseph C. Chapman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Jeffrey Nichols

  2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Arthur ‘Barney’ Maccabe

  3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    James Nutaro

  4. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Swaroop Pophale

  5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Pravallika Devineni

  6. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Theresa Ahearn

  7. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Becky Verastegui

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Alshowkan, M. et al. (2022). Lessons Learned on the Interface Between Quantum and Conventional Networking. In: Nichols, J., et al. Driving Scientific and Engineering Discoveries Through the Integration of Experiment, Big Data, and Modeling and Simulation. SMC 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1512. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96498-6_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96498-6_15

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