IP-Compatible Classical-Decisive Quantum Internet via Integrated Photonics

A practical route towards a scalable quantum internet involves improvements in chip-scale photon sources and compatibility with existing commercial fiber internet. We present a quantum-classical architecture in which an integrated photonic server emits hybrid data packets consisting of a time-ordered classical header followed by the quantum payload. Real-time error mitigation facilitated by classical analog data error detection preserves high-quality quantum state transfer. We demonstrate efficient quantum payload routing and high entanglement distribution fidelity of 0.97 on a campus-level deployed fiber network. Following the successful experiment, we propose a lightweight IP/UDP compatible protocol specifying routing information and metadata for hybrid packets, e.g. standardizing a packet for error compensation, with an intentionally versatile structure. The success of our device hardware and the broad compatibility of our IP/UDP protocol suggest a practical path to a multi-node quantum internet that fully utilizes existing commercial internet infrastructure.