Method and apparatus for increasing the rate of successfully generated entanglement, and quantum repeater using the method and apparatus

摘要

A method and apparatus (70) are provided for creating an entanglement between two qubits situated in spaced nodes (71, 72) and coupled by an optical channel (75). One node (71) supports a plurality of qubits (73) and is arranged to pass a respective light field through each qubit and on into the optical channel (75), so as to produce a train (78) of closely-spaced light fields on the optical channel (75). The other node (72) supports a target qubit (74) and is arranged to receive the light-field train (78), to allow each successive light field to pass through, and potentially interact with, the target qubit (74) while the latter remains un-entangled, and to thereafter measure each light field to determine whether the latter has been successfully entangled. Upon the second node (72) determining that the target qubit (74) has become entangled, it inhibits the interaction of further light fields with the target qubit.