Optically heralded microwave photons

Understand

A quantum network that distributes and processes entanglement would enable powerful new computers and sensors.

• Optical photons with a frequency of a few hundred terahertz are perhaps the only way to distribute quantum information over long distances.
• Superconducting qubits on the other hand, which are one of the most promising approaches for realizing large-scale quantum machines, operate naturally on microwave photons that have roughly $40,000$ times less energy.
• To network these quantum machines across appreciable distances, we must bridge this frequency gap and learn how to generate entanglement across widely disparate parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.