End-to-End Entanglement Rate: Toward a Quantum Route Metric

We present an entanglement-generation rate analysis for generic quantum network architectures composed by repeaters operating through single atoms in optical cavities. Specifically, we analytically derive the end-to-end entanglement rate between a couple of nodes through an arbitrary path. To this aim, we first model the entanglement generation through a stochastic framework that allows us to jointly account for all the key physical-mechanisms affecting the end-to-end entanglement rate, such as decoherence time, atom-photon and photon-photon entanglement generation, entanglement swapping and imperfect bell-state measurement. Then, we derive the closed-form expression of the end-to-end entanglement rate. Finally, we evaluate the entanglement rate under realistic parameter setting.