Quantum Internet Architecture: unlocking Quantum-Native Routing via Quantum Addressing

Abstract: The Quantum Internet introduces a fundamental shift in the network design, since its key objective is the distribution and manipulation of quantum entanglement, rather than the transmission of classical information. This shift breaks key classical Internet design principles, such as the end-to-end argument, due to the inherently stateful and non-local nature of entangled states that require coordinated in-network operations. Consequently, in this paper we propose a novel hierarchical Quantum Internet architecture centered around the concept of entanglement-defined controller, enabling scalable and efficient management of the aforementioned in-network operations. However, architecture alone is insufficient for network scalability, which requires a quantum-native control plane that fundamentally rethinks addressing and routing. Consequently, we propose a quantum addressing scheme that embraces the principles and quantum phenomena within the node identifiers. Built upon this addressing scheme, we also design a quantum-native routing protocol that exhibits scalable and compact routing tables, by efficiently operating over entanglement-aware topologies. Finally, we design a quantum address splitting functionality based on Schr\"odinger's oracles that generalizes classical match-and-forward logic to the quantum domain. Together, these contributions demonstrate, for the first time, the key advantages of quantum-by-design network functioning.