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Resource estimation for entanglement routing in quantum networks

Manik Dawar

Ralf Riedinger

Nilesh Vyas and Paulo Mendes

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Phys. Rev. A 113, 022622 – Published 23 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vf4x-rjsd

Abstract

Quantum repeaters have promised efficient scaling of quantum networks for over two decades. Despite numerous platforms proclaiming functional repeaters, the realization of large-scale networks remains elusive, indicating that the resources required to do so were thus far underestimated. Here, we investigate the dependence of the resource scaling of networks on realistic experimental errors. Using a nested repeater protocol based on the purification protocol by Bennett et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 722 (1996)], we provide an analytical approximation of the polynomial degree of the resources consumed by entanglement routing. Our error model predicts substantially stricter thresholds for efficient network operation than previously suggested, requiring two-qubit gate errors below 1.3% for resource scaling with polynomial degree below 10. The analytical model presented here provides insight into the reason why previous experimental implementations of quantum repeaters failed to scale efficiently and inform the development of truly scalable systems, highlighting the need for high-fidelity local two-qubit gates. We employ our analytical approximation of the scaling exponent as a figure of merit to compare different platforms and find that trapped ions and color centers in diamond currently provide the best route towards large-scale networks.

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Phys. Rev. A 113, 022622– Published 23 February, 2026
  • Received 25 April 2025
  • Accepted 23 December 2025
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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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