IonQ demonstrates visible-to-telecom photon frequency conversion for quantum networking
On 2025-09-23 IonQ announced, with research support from the Air Force Research Laboratory, the first demonstration by a quantum company of converting photons from the visible wavelengths that interface with trapped barium ions into telecom wavelengths on a prototype system, a step toward interconnecting quantum computers over existing fiber. The milestone followed delivery of IonQ's first trapped-ion quantum computer with an integrated photonic interface to AFRL in Rome, New York.
Visible-to-telecom conversion is a meaningful quantum-networking building block enabling fiber-based interconnects between trapped-ion systems, though as a prototype-stage company-reported result it is sub-domain relevant rather than an industry-wide benchmark.
A working telecom-band interconnect path strengthens IonQ's distributed-quantum-computing roadmap and its AFRL relationship, complementing the company's broader networking and federal strategy.