Quantum Networks

Heralded entanglement uses a detected photon to confirm that a remote-entanglement attempt succeeded, so the protocol only advances on verified successes rather than assuming every attempt worked. The OPX takes single-photon detector signals directly and processes photon counts and time tags natively, letting the controller evaluate the heralding condition and branch (continue, store to memory, or retry) within the same synchronized sequence. Keeping that decision on the controller avoids the latency of routing detection data out to external software. 

Network protocols are inherently non-deterministic. One node may succeed on the first attempt while another needs many tries before a heralding event. So the OPX handles the branching on the controller rather than in slow external logic. It runs independent node sequences in parallel, evaluates success conditions from real-time photon data, and repeats attempts until each node reaches its checkpoint. In QUA, the loops, counters, conditionals, and synchronization commands (such as align()) these workflows need are written intuitively as reusable code. 

The OPX runs each node’s sequence independently and in parallel, then aligns them only once each has reached its required checkpoint. This means that faster nodes wait for slower ones instead of forcing inefficient fixed timing. This matters precisely because, as QM notes, you cannot predict in advance how long each node will take to reach a checkpoint. Real-time evaluation of each node’s state on the controller is what keeps the protocol coordinated despite that unpredictability.  

Distillation is converting several imperfect entangled pairs into fewer, higher-fidelity ones. It depends on preserving phase coherence across repeated attempts, local gates, memory operations, and measurement-based decisions, since any timing jitter or phase noise degrades the distilled state. QM’s Direct Digital Synthesis architecture provides a more stable control layer by generating microwave signals directly from digital data, with deterministic phase control, low phase noise, and a shared high-frequency clock. The OPX1000’s timing foundation helps hold phase stability across long, repeated, and branching network protocols, which also benefits quantum sensing. 

Optically addressable platforms are especially powerful here, pairing a communication qubit that emits photons with a nearby memory qubit. Defect centers are a leading example, combined with nuclear-spin memories, alongside rare-earth ions, heterostructure quantum dots, and ion-based single-photon sources. QM’s platform drives these spin-photon systems from a single controller, coordinating the optical, microwave, RF, and photon-detection channels each one requires. That same flexibility is why the platform spans defect-center computing, sensing, and networking without rebuilding the control stack. 

Traditional setups struggle because network protocols are dominated by repeat-until-success blocks with unpredictable timing, which static, pre-defined sequences handle inefficiently. As QM puts it, using traditional equipment is challenging because of the abundance of repeat-until-success blocks, especially since you cannot predict in advance how long each node will take to reach a checkpoint. The OPX replaces fragmented external logic with on-controller real-time decision-making, so heralded protocols run without slow software round-trips.