Record-breaking photons at telecom wavelengths—on demand

German researchers led by Prof. Stefanie Barz have achieved a breakthrough in quantum photonics by creating an on-demand single-photon source with record quality in the telecom C-band. The team from the University of Stuttgart and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg demonstrated a photon source that overcomes a decade-long challenge in quantum optics laboratories. This advancement enables high-purity, on-demand photon generation at wavelengths compatible with existing fiber-optic infrastructure, critical for scalable quantum networks. The technology removes a major bottleneck in photonic quantum computing and long-distance quantum communication, where low-loss telecom-band photons are essential. Barz states this innovation paves the way for practical, large-scale quantum systems by providing reliable, high-quality photon sources for quantum information processing.