Modelling Quantum Transduction for Multipartite Entanglement Distribution

Superconducting and photonic technologies are envisioned to play a key role in the Quantum Internet. However the hybridization of these technologies requires functional quantum transducers for converting superconducting qubits, exploited in quantum computation, into ``flying'' qubits, able to propagate through the network (and vice-versa). In this paper, quantum transduction is theoretically investigated for a key functionality of the Quantum Internet, namely, multipartite entanglement distribution. Different communication models for quantum transduction are provided, in order to make the entanglement distribution possible. The proposed models departs from the large heterogeneity of hardware solutions available in literature, abstracting from the particulars of the specific solutions with a communication engineering perspective. Then, a performance analysis of the proposed models is conducted through key communication metrics, such as quantum capacity and entanglement generation probability. The analysis reveals that -- although the considered communication metrics depend on transduction hardware parameters for all the proposed models -- the particulars of the considered transduction paradigm play a relevant role in the overall entanglement distribution performance.