Heralded optical entanglement distribution via lossy quantum channels: A comparative study

Abstract: Quantum entanglement serves as a foundational resource for various quantum technologies. In optical systems, entanglement distribution rely on the indistinguishability and spatial overlap of photons. Heralded schemes play a crucial role in ensuring the reliability of entanglement generation by detecting ancillary photons to signal the creation of desired entangled states. However, photon losses in quantum channels remain a significant challenge, limiting the distance and capacity of entanglement distributions. This study suggests three heralded schemes that distribute multipartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states via lossy quantum channels. These schemes utilize different photon sources (Bell states or single-photons) and channel structures (centralized or decentralized heralding detectors). By comparing success probabilities and heralding efficiency, we find that each scheme has its own advantage according to the number of parties and the channel distance and the security requirement. This analysis provides insights into designing resilient heralded circuits for quantum information processing over lossy channels.