Distributing entanglement in first generation discrete and continuous variable quantum repeaters

Abstract

Quantum repeaters are used to overcome the exponential photon loss scaling that quantum states acquire as they are transmitted over long distances. While repeaters for discrete variable encodings of quantum information have existed for some time, novel approaches for continuous variable encoding quantum repeaters have only recently been proposed. In this work, we present a method of using a discrete variable repeater protocol to distribute continuous variable states and utilize it to compare the rates of continuous variable entanglement distribution between first generation continuous and discrete variable quantum repeaters. Such a comparison allows us to begin to benchmark the two quite different approaches.