The QIA team at the University of Innsbruck (UIBK) is building up an elementary trapped-ion quantum network with an effective 50 km separation, which will serve as a building block for future metropolitan-scale quantum networks. The team is also investigating how to interface metropolitan networks with long-distance quantum repeaters. For such an interface, we are focusing on ions coupled to fiber-based optical cavities, which are much shorter than the cavities we have previously used for quantum-network experiments. The short cavities allow us to generate photons compatible with a rare-earth-ion-doped quantum memory, one of the leading candidates for future quantum repeaters. Fiber-based cavities also offer a route towards efficient, compact, high-fidelity network nodes.

The intern will work on generating and characterizing single photons from an ion coupled to a fiber-based cavity. This is an opportunity to develop familiarity with a wide range of techniques in a quantum physics laboratory, including trapping ions in ultra-high vacuum, laser spectroscopy, coherent control of quantum interfaces between light and matter, and writing code for laboratory control and data analysis.

We welcome creative, motivated students who would like to start building the quantum internet!