1. Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics 12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
2. Present address: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Université P. et M. Curie, Ecole Normale Superieure et CNRS, UPMC Case 74, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Correspondence to: H. J. Kimble¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H.J.K. (Email: hjkimble@caltech.edu).

Abstract

Developments in quantum information science¹ rely critically on entanglement—a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics that causes parts of a composite system to show correlations stronger than can be explained classically². In particular, scalable quantum networks require the capability to create, store and distribute entanglement among distant matter nodes by means of photonic channels³. Atomic ensembles can play the role of such nodes⁴. So far, in the photon-counting regime, heralded entanglement between atomic ensembles has been successfully demonstrated through probabilistic protocols^{5, 6}. But an inherent drawback of this approach is the compromise between the amount of entanglement and its preparation probability, leading to intrinsically low count rates for high entanglement. Here we report a protocol where entanglement between two atomic ensembles is created by coherent mapping of an entangled state of light. By splitting a single photon^{7, 8, 9} and performing subsequent state transfer, we separate the generation of entanglement and its storage¹⁰. After a programmable delay, the stored entanglement is mapped back into photonic modes with overall efficiency of 17%. Together with improvements in single-photon sources¹¹, our protocol will allow 'on-demand' entanglement of atomic ensembles, a powerful resource for quantum information science.

1. Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics 12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
2. Present address: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Université P. et M. Curie, Ecole Normale Superieure et CNRS, UPMC Case 74, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Correspondence to: H. J. Kimble¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H.J.K. (Email: hjkimble@caltech.edu).

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