Abstract
Entanglement between a stationary quantum system and a flying qubit is an essential ingredient of a quantum-repeater network. It has been demonstrated for trapped ions, trapped atoms, color centers in diamond, or quantum dots. These systems have transition wavelengths in the blue, red or near-infrared spectral regions, whereas long-range fiber-communication requires wavelengths in the low-loss, low-dispersion telecom regime. A proven tool to interconnect flying qubits at visible/NIR wavelengths to the telecom bands is quantum frequency conversion. Here we use an efficient polarization-preserving frequency converter connecting 854nm to the telecom O-band at 1310nm to demonstrate entanglement between a trapped Ca ion and the polarization state of a telecom photon with a high fidelity of 98.2 0.2. The unique combination of 99.75 0.18 process fidelity in the polarization-state conversion, 26.5 external frequency conversion efficiency and only 11.4 photons/s conversion-induced unconditional background makes the converter a powerful ion-telecom quantum interface.