Physicists at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore and the Technical University of Munich have discovered a technique to transfer data between light and matter in a network node in a quantum network, using cheap lenses like those used in CD players, a low-cost alternative to the expensive cavities currently in use.

The lenses focus a beam of information-rich photons down to a spot immediately above a rubidium atom’s cage, allowing the atom to collide with around 10% of the photons, possibly approaching 100% in the future.