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Photonic qubit encoding interconversion for heterogeneous quantum networking

Vedansh Nehra1,*, Richard J. Birrittella2, Christopher C. Tison3, Benjamin K. Malia1, Zachary S. Smith3, Dylan Heberle1, Nicholas J. Barton4, Amos Matthew Smith3, Andrew Brownell4 et al.

Michael L. Fanto3, James Schneeloch3, Erin Sheridan3, and David Hucul3

  • *Contact author: vedansh.nehra@techngs.com
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Phys. Rev. A 114, 032436 – Published 15 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6mwq-8j4j

Abstract

Quantum information processing, communication, and sensing networks are being developed with various qubit platforms that use different encoding schemes. Connecting quantum network nodes to distribute entanglement requires matching photon qubit basis encoding. In this work we implement an interconversion protocol which converts photon qubit encoding from the polarization basis to the time-bin basis, transmits the photons through a transport fiber with large fluctuations in polarization, and converts back to polarization encoding for ease of measurement. This interconversion scheme faithfully transmits a polarization Bell state across the transport fiber by converting sources of infidelity to changes in transmission rate. These results illustrate a practical approach for interfacing distinct qubit platforms to enable modular and flexible operation in heterogeneous quantum networks.

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Phys. Rev. A 114, 032436– Published 15 September, 2026
  • Received 9 April 2026
  • Accepted 7 July 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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