quantum Leap in Networking: Researchers Entangle Ten Ion Qubits with Photons
Scientists at the University of Innsbruck have achieved a significant advance in quantum networking, successfully entangling ten trapped-ion qubits with photons. This breakthrough, detailed in a recent publication in Physical Review Letters, represents a major step towards building a scalable quantum internet.The research team demonstrated the ability to reliably transmit quantum information carried by ions – charged atoms held in place by electromagnetic fields – to distant locations via photons, particles of light. This is crucial for establishing entanglement, a uniquely quantum phenomenon, between separate quantum devices. the experiment achieved an average ion-photon entanglement fidelity of 92%, highlighting the precision and stability of the developed method.
“A key advantage of this approach is its potential for expansion,” explains Ben Lanyon, a researcher involved in the project. “Previous experiments were limited to linking onyl a few ion qubits to photons. Our innsbruck setup is designed to accommodate considerably larger systems, potentially incorporating hundreds of ions.” This scalability opens the door to connecting entire quantum processors across considerable distances, even spanning laboratories in different cities or continents.
Marco Canteri, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This work is a crucial step towards realizing practical quantum networks. It brings us closer to applications like quantum-secure interaction, distributed quantum computing, and large-scale quantum sensing.”
Beyond networking, the technology also holds promise for enhancing optical atomic clocks. These incredibly precise timekeepers, capable of losing less than a second over the entire age of the universe, could be interconnected through quantum networks to create a global timekeeping system with unprecedented accuracy.
The research, published on August 21, 2025, is titled “Photon-Interfaced Ten-Qubit Register of trapped Ions” (DOI: 10.1103/v5k1-whwz). The project received funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF and the European Union, and represents a vital component in the growth of next-generation quantum technologies.