Building a large scale quantum network is one of the most exciting goals of modern quantum physics. Such a network would allow to establish absolutely secure communication, as well as connect future quantum computing nodes over regional and global distances. While entanglement distribution over relatively long distances has been possible for many years, one of the other key components for such a network is still far from a proven technology, namely a quantum memory. In our work we demonstrate such a quantum memory, natively operating in the telecommunication band. We realize our memory using a fully engineered optomechanical system and demonstrate storage times of up to 2ms.

Nature Phys. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-0891-z (2020)