Quantum entanglement creation for distant quantum memories via time-bin multiplexing
Zhihao Xie, Yijie Liu, Xiang Mo, Tao Li, Zhenhua Li
Abstract
Quantum networks require parallel quantum entanglement between pairs of distant quantum memories (QMs) for practical applications. However, usually one pair of QMs is entangled using a single photonic pulse and multiple pulses are consumed to generate parallel entanglement between pairs of QMs. We propose a multiplexing method for simultaneously entangling multiple pairs of QMs located in two distant nodes. A single photon with high-dimensional encoding first entangles with all QMs in one node, leading to hybrid entanglement between a high-dimensional photon and two-dimensional QMs, and then it interacts with QMs in the other node and converts the hybrid entanglement to entanglement between multiple pairs of QMs in a heralded way. This can significantly increase the efficiency of large-scale quantum networks by reducing the exponential transmission loss via time-bin multiplexing. Furthermore, this protocol presents a specific connection between high-dimensional and two-dimensional quantum systems.