A Universal Quantum Information Preserving Photonic Switch for Scalable Quantum Networks
Abstract
Quantum networks are a keystone of the quantum internet. However, existing implementations remain largely confined to static point-to-point links due to the absence of a switching paradigm capable of dynamically routing fragile quantum entanglement without introducing decoherence. Here, we propose the Universal Quantum Switch, a foundational building block allowing on-demand, non-blocking, and encoding-agnostic routing of quantum information, as well as seamless modality conversion between disparate quantum platforms. We develop a prototype in thin-film lithium niobate and experimentally demonstrate robust switching with decoherence via thermo-optic modulation and high-speed electro-optic switching of arbitrary entangled states at 1 MHz. Moreover, we show that our platform can support reconfiguration speeds up to 1 GHz. To our knowledge, this work represents the first demonstration of multi-node dynamic entanglement distribution at these speeds. Complementing these experimental results, we project the architecture's scalability, showing dimension-independent decoherence, and provide a scalable, interoperable building block for heterogeneous quantum network fabrics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.21902,
title = {A Universal Quantum Information Preserving Photonic Switch for Scalable Quantum Networks},
author = {Jiapeng Zhao and Stéphane Vinet and Amir Minoofar and Michael Kilzer and Lucas Wang and Galan Moody and Vijoy Pandey and Ramana Kompella and Reza Nejabati},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.21902},
year = {2026}
}