Rate-Fidelity Control for Wide-Area Quantum Links

2026-08-07

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenge of polarization drift in deployed fiber links, which undermines end-to-end fidelity and impedes the simultaneous achievement of high entanglement distribution rates and application-mandated fidelity thresholds. The problem is formulated as a joint control task involving a controllable rate–fidelity trade-off and uncontrollable link dynamics. To tackle this, the authors propose the first software-based, physical-layer adaptive control mechanism that dynamically adjusts the pump power of the photon source and polarization compensation parameters to maximize the entanglement distribution rate while satisfying a minimum fidelity constraint. Notably, the approach requires no additional quantum hardware or offline optimization. In a 24-hour field trial over 64 km of operational fiber, it achieves a 14% average improvement in entanglement distribution rate compared to the best static strategy.

Abstract

Quantum network links must distribute entanglement at high rates while satisfying application-specified fidelity demands. However, wide-area deployed fiber links suffer from polarization drift which destabilizes end-to-end fidelity and forces periodic compensation. Current deployments often use active stabilization with fixed control policies, and improvements generally stem from advances in quantum hardware. Meanwhile, software control remains relatively underexplored. Here, we formulate quantum link operation as a joint control problem over tunable rate-fidelity tradeoffs and uncontrollable link drift. From this framework, we construct a link control protocol that dynamically adapts source pump power and polarization compensation to maximize entanglement distribution rate subject to a minimum fidelity constraint. We evaluate the protocol through trace-driven simulations driven by data from a 64 km deployed optical fiber. Compared with optimized static policies, our adaptive controller improves mean entanglement distribution rate by 14% over a 24 hour trace, without requiring any offline policy optimization. Our results show that software-based physical layer control can provide a practical mechanism for improving near-term quantum link performance without requiring additional quantum hardware.

Problem

• quantum network
• entanglement distribution
• fidelity
• polarization drift
• rate-fidelity tradeoff

Innovation

• rate-fidelity tradeoff
• adaptive control
• quantum link
• polarization drift compensation
• entanglement distribution