Entanglement distribution over quantum networks has the promise of realizing fundamentally new technologies. Entanglement between separated quantum processing nodes has been achieved on several experimental platforms in the past decade. To move toward metropolitan-scale quantum network test beds, the creation and transmission of indistinguishable single photons over existing telecom infrastructure is key. Here, we report the interference of photons emitted by remote spectrally detuned NV-center-based network nodes, using quantum frequency conversion to the telecom L band. We find a visibility of 0.79±0.03 and an indistinguishability between converted NV photons around 0.9 over the full range of the emission duration, confirming the removal of the spectral information present. Our approach implements fully separated and independent control over the nodes, time multiplexing of control and quantum signals, and active feedback to stabilize the output frequency. Our results demonstrate a working principle that can be readily employed on other platforms and shows a clear path toward generating metropolitan-scale solid-state entanglement over deployed telecom fibers.

We report on the realization and verification of quantum entanglement between a nitrogen-vacancy electron spin qubit and a telecom-band photonic qubit. First we generate entanglement between the spin qubit and a 637 nm photonic time-bin qubit, followed by photonic quantum frequency conversion that transfers the entanglement to a 1588 nm photon. We characterize the resulting state by correlation measurements in different bases and find a lower bound to the Bell state fidelity of ≥0.77±0.03. This result presents an important step towards extending quantum networks via optical fiber infrastructure.

We experimentally demonstrate the preservation of entanglement between an NV spin and a photon upon quantum frequency conversion to the Telecom band. This is a crucial step in realizing long-distance quantum networks.