Quantum Networks Across Physical Platforms for 6G

The quantum internet is a candidate network technology for specific future xURLLC communication scenarios that will entail sending, receiving, storing and manipulating information encoded in quantum states in order to provide new services such as quantum cloud computing and real-time materials science simulations. Efforts concerning the creation of the quantum internet are predicated conceptually on quantum mechanics, and involve the transmission of qubits - bits of quantum information -across different physical platforms (trapped-ion systems, superconducting circuits, etc.) while leveraging physical phenomena like quantum entanglement and quantum superposition to offer properties like increased security and decreased latency in some contexts of communication. In this paper, we briefly review the state-of-the-art of quantum networks based on different physical platforms, and investigate as to how they may play a key role in offering unprecedented and/or unique advantages in the realm of 6G communication networks and beyond.