Quantum internet progress requires advancing the development of a programmable quantum internet by defining the software and system interfaces that will enable application developers to build and run quantum networked applications. A key missing component is a set of well-accepted operating-system-level abstractions that make quantum networking usable and portable across hardware and network implementations—analogous to how BSD sockets provide a universal interface for classical networked applications.

The objective of this internship is to contribute to the design and evaluation of new OS-level programming abstractions for quantum internet applications. The intern will help develop a prototype implementation in an emulated environment and use representative applications to validate feasibility, compare design alternatives, and assess performance/overheads.

Expected responsibilities/tasks

• Survey and distill requirements for quantum-internet OS abstractions from representative application scenarios.
• Contribute to the design of candidate abstractions and APIs.
• Implement a prototype of the abstractions in a suitable emulated environment–integrating with existing simulation/emulation tooling where appropriate.
• Develop or adapt representative applications/benchmarks that exercise the abstractions end-to-end.
• Define evaluation methodology and metrics (e.g., programmability/usability indicators, latency/throughput, resource usage, overheads, scalability).
• Run experiments to compare design alternatives; analyze results and document trade-offs.
• Produce clear technical documentation and contribute to reports, presentations, and/or open-source artifacts (as applicable).

Requirements / ideal candidate profile

• Strong programming skills in at least one systems-oriented language (e.g., C/C++, Rust) and/or Python for prototyping and experimentation.
• Solid understanding of computer networking fundamentals (APIs, sockets, asynchronous I/O, client/server models) and software architecture.
• Familiarity with operating systems concepts (process/threading, scheduling, event loops, resource management) and API design principles.
• Interest in quantum networking and willingness to learn relevant concepts (entanglement generation, fidelity/noise, quantum memories, timing/classical control). Prior exposure to quantum information is a plus but not strictly required.
• Experience with simulation/emulation frameworks, benchmarking, and performance analysis is a plus.
• Ability to work independently, communicate clearly, write maintainable code, and document design decisions and experimental results.