Protocols for Packet Quantum Network Intercommunication
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A quantum network, which involves multiple parties pinging each other with quantum messages, could revolutionize communication, computing and basic sciences. A global system of various packet switching quantum and classical networks is called quantum internet, the internet in the future. To pave the way to the future quantum internet, unified protocols that support the distribution of quantum messages within the quantum internet are necessary. Classical network functionalities, ranging from error-control mechanisms to overhead-control strategies, assume that classical information can be correctly read and copied. However, developing quantum internet protocols is more challenging since some classical techniques are forbidden by quantum effects, such as entanglement, measurement, and no-cloning. In this paper, we investigate and propose protocols for packet quantum network intercommunication: quantum User Datagram Protocol (qUDP) and quantum Transmission Control Protocol (qTCP). To protect the fragile quantum information in the quantum internet, qTCP employs techniques of quantum error-correcting codes as well as classical techniques of stack design. In particular, the creation of the logical process-to-process connections of qTCP is accomplished by a quantum version of the three-way handshake protocol.
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