We show how to make quantum networks, both standard and entanglement-based, genuine quantum by providing them with the possibility of handling superposed tasks and superposed addressing. This extension of their functionality relies on a quantum control register, which specifies not only the task of the network, but also the corresponding weights in a coherently superposed fashion. Although adding coherent control to classical tasks, such as sending or measuring—or not doing so—is in general impossible, we introduce protocols that are able to mimick this behavior under certain conditions. We achieve this by always performing the classical task, either on the desired state or a properly chosen dummy state. We provide several examples, and show that externally controlling quantum superposition of tasks offers additional possibilities and advantages over usually considered single functionality. For instance, superpositions of different target state configurations shared among different nodes of the network can be prepared, or quantum information can be sent among a superposition of different paths or to different destinations.

我们展示了如何通过为标准和基于纠缠的量子网络提供处理叠加任务和叠加寻址的可能性来制作真正的量子。其功能的这种扩展依赖于量子控制寄存器，该寄存器不仅指定网络的任务，而且还以相干叠加的方式指定相应的权重。尽管向经典任务（例如发送或测量）添加连贯控制（或不这样做）通常是不可能的，但我们引入了能够在某些条件下模仿这种行为的协议。我们通过始终在所需状态或正确选择的虚拟状态上执行经典任务来实现这一点。我们提供了几个例子，并表明，与通常认为的单一功能相比，外部控制任务的量子叠加提供了额外的可能性和优势。例如，可以准备在网络的不同节点之间共享的不同目标状态配置的叠加，或者可以在不同路径的叠加之间或向不同目的地发送量子信息。