Colloquium

The event of information and communication technology has shaped the way we live. We hardly spend a day without sending, storing, reading, or processing information - for instance information contained in emails. Similar tasks are required to enable future applications of quantum information and communication. I will review the role that quantum memories play in quantum repeaters, networks and computers, and I will briefly address the current state-of-the-art. Furthermore, I will report on a recent development in my group, namely the reversible transfer of entangled photons in and out of a solid-state device [1]. Our result adds evidence that this key property in quantum information science is not as fragile as is often believed, and constitutes an important milestone on the path towards fully quantum-enabled networks.