Efficient Entanglement Transfer Between Light and Cold-atom Quantum Memories

The transfer of quantum states of light and their mapping into stationary quantum nodes is one of the building blocks for future quantum networks and envisionned applications [1] . Central to this endeavor is the distribution of entanglement between the material nodes, which opens a variety of major applications [2] . For instance, to realize long-distance quantum communications one needs to divide the distance into shorter quantum repeater links connecting entangled memories. Subsequent entanglement swapping operations enable an exponential improvement in distribution time. In this context, the efficiency of the entanglement mapping is a key parameter.