Abstract
Quantum networking is poised to revolutionize secure communications and has far-reaching implications for national security, finance, and healthcare. This tutorial offers a comprehensive introduction to the foundational concepts of quantum networks. We will begin with an overview of quantum communication principles, including qubits, entanglement, and quantum teleportation, setting the stage for understanding how quantum information is transmitted. Next, we will contrast classical and quantum networks, highlighting key differences in data transmission, error handling, and network control. We then delve into scheduling strategies in quantum repeater chains, which are essential for extending entanglement across long distances while managing limited quantum memory and probabilistic link generation. Building on this, we will explore quantum network routing protocols, focusing on how entanglement can be efficiently distributed across multi-hop quantum networks. Finally, we introduce the emerging concept of connectionless quantum networks, discussing how such architectures differ from traditional networking paradigms and their potential to support scalable and dynamic quantum communication. This tutorial is aimed at researchers, graduate students, and professionals interested in the design, analysis, and implementation of quantum networks, providing both theoretical insights and practical considerations.
Bio
Dr. Nitish Kumar Panigrahy is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Binghamton University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Networks, working jointly with Prof. Don Towsley (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Prof. Leandros Tassiulas (Yale University). He earned his PhD degree in Computer Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2021. Dr. Panigrahy’s research interests lie in modeling, optimization, and performance evaluation of networked systems with applications to quantum information networking, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and content delivery. He has been active on the program committees of several conferences including ACM SIGMETRICS, IEEE QCE, IEEE GLOBECOM, and IEEE LCN conferences. His papers have received the IEEE Quantum Week'23 Best Paper Award (second place) and IEEE MASCOTS'18 Best Paper Runner-Up Award.
