Memory-built-in quantum teleportation with photonic and atomic qubits

The combination of quantum teleportation(1) and quantum memory(2-5) of photonic qubits is essential for future implementations of large-scale quantum communication(6) and measurement-based quantum computation(7,8). Both steps have been achieved separately in many proof-of-principle experiments(9-14), but the demonstration of memory-built-in teleportation of photonic qubits remains an experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate teleportation between photonic (flying) and atomic (stationary) qubits. In our experiment, an unknown polarization state of a single photon is teleported over 7 m onto a remote atomic qubit that also serves as a quantum memory. The teleported state can be stored and successfully read out for up to 8 mu s. Besides being of fundamental interest, teleportation between photonic and atomic qubits with the direct inclusion of a readable quantum memory represents a step towards an efficient and scalable quantum network(2-8) .