Satellite-based photonic quantum networks are small-world

Abstract

Recent milestone experiments establishing satellite-to-ground quantum communication are paving the way for the development of the quantum internet, a network interconnected by quantum channels. Here we employ network theory to study the properties of the photonic networks that can be generated by satellite-based quantum communication and compare it with the optical-fiber counterpart. We predict that satellites can generate small-world networks, implying that physically distant nodes are actually near from a network perspective. We also analyse the connectivity properties of the network and show, in particular, that they are robust against random failures. This puts satellite-based quantum communication as the most promising technology to distribute entanglement across large distances in quantum networks of growing size and complexity.

arXiv comment11 pages, 8 figures

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• Ultrabright Polarization-Entangled Photon Pair Source for Frequency-Multiplexed Quantum Communication in Free-Space
• Performance metrics for the continuous distribution of entanglement in multi-user quantum networks
• Small-world complex network generation on a digital quantum processor
• Path Percolation in Quantum Communication Networks
• Complex quantum network models from spin clusters
• Quantum Internet under random breakdowns and intentional attacks
• Multipartite quantum cryptography based on the violation of Svetlichny's inequality
• Optimal quantum key distribution networks: capacitance versus security
• Quantum Communication Networks Enhanced by Distributed Quantum Memories
• General Concurrence Percolation on Quantum Networks
• Analysis of Neural Network Predictions for Entanglement Self-Catalysis
• Unveiling hidden features of the Kitaev model through a complex-network analysis