Practical quantum information processing is likely to require atoms to process and store information and photons to transmit information within and between quantum computers.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have taken a significant step in finding a way to transfer information from atoms to photons and back by entangling a cadmium ion held in a vacuum by radio waves, and a single, free-flying ultraviolet photon. The technique is based on entanglement (particles remain linked regardless of the distance between them).

Ion-photon entanglement promises to advance quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and teleporting quantum information over long distances and within large quantum computers.