Instruction-Set Architecture for Programmable NV-Center Quantum Repeater Nodes

TL;DR

This work formalizes two modes of programmability: deterministic register control and coherent register control, which enables interferometric diagnostics such as fidelity witnessing and calibration, providing tools unavailable in classical programmability.

Abstract

Programmability is increasingly central in emerging quantum network software stacks, yet the node-internal controller-to-hardware interface for quantum repeater devices remains under-specified. We introduce the idea of an instruction-set architecture (ISA) for controller-driven programmability of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center quantum repeater nodes. Each node consists of an optically interfaced electron spin acting as a data qubit and a long-lived nuclear-spin register acting as a control program. We formalize two modes of programmability: (i) deterministic register control, where the nuclear register is initialized in a basis state to select a specific operation on the data qubit; and (ii) coherent register control, where the register is prepared in superposition, enabling coherent combinations of operations beyond classical programmability. Network protocols are expressed as controller-issued instruction vectors, which we illustrate through a compact realization of the BBPSSW purification protocol. We further show that coherent register control enables interferometric diagnostics such as fidelity witnessing and calibration, providing tools unavailable in classical programmability. Finally, we discuss scalability to multi-electron and multi-nuclear spin architectures and connection to Linear combination of unitaries (LCU) and Kraus formulation.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: Two node example. A classical controller broadcasts the instruction vector $\mathbf{I}(t)$. Each node decodes it into nuclear register preparation and microwave (MW) or radio-frequency (RF) pulse sequences that realize the selected electron spin operation.
• Figure 2: Programmability modes. Deterministic mode initializes the nuclear register in a basis state that selects one operation. Coherent mode prepares and reads the register in a rotated basis to enact a linear combination of operations on the electron spin.
• Figure 3: An example: BBPSSW purification protocol in NV-center nodes.
• Figure 4: Per-electron round throughput $R$ vs Per-nuclear spin reset time $\tau_{\mathrm{reset}}$ for register sizes $r\in\{1,2,4,8, 16\}$ with fixed overheads ($t_{\mathrm{MW}}{+}t_{\mathrm{RF}}{+}t_{\mathrm{meas}}{+}t_{\mathrm{class}}$). Larger $r$ expands the ISA address space (more programmable operation choices) but increases re-initialization time.