Long-Distance Distribution of Atom-Photon Entanglement Based on a Cavity-Free Cold Atomic Ensemble

Constructing a quantum memory node with the ability of long-distance atom-photon distribution is the essential task for future quantum networks, enabling distributed quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and remote sensing. Here we report the demonstration of a quantum-network node with a simple cavity-free cold atomic ensemble. This node gives an initial retrieval efficiency of approximately 55% and memory lifetime of 160 μs for atomic qubits. With the aid of a high-efficiency and polarization-independent quantum frequency conversion (QFC) module, the generated entangled photon in the node at 780-nm wavelength is converted to telecom S band at 1522 nm, enabling atom-photon distribution over long distance. We observe an entanglement fidelity between the atoms and telecom photon exceeding 80% after photon transmission over 20-km fiber with an end excitation probability of 0.2% and repetition of 1.7 kHz, the remaining infidelity being dominated by atomic decoherence. The low-noise QFC with an external efficiency up to 48.5% gives a signal-to-noise ratio of 6.9 for transmitted photons with fiber length up to 100 km, laying the cornerstone for entanglement distribution at a hundred-km level. This result provides a new platform toward the realization of a long-distance quantum network.