Axel Kuhn’s research activities focus on the ultimate control of atom-photon interactions at the single-atom and single-photon level. To this purpose, we bring quantum mechanics to work, i.e. we exploit, develop and implement new physical methods that are based on the principles of quantum mechanics. This encompasses the optical trapping and manipulation of single atoms, the interfacing of atoms and photons in microcavities, and single-photon quantum memories. Extending work by Kuhn and Keller [Science 317 488 (2007), Nature 431 1075 (2004), New J. Phys. 15 53007 & 053011 (2013)] we will develop integrated fibre-tip microcavities to boost photon capture >50%, initially with neutral atoms as testbeds. These cavities couple directly to fibre, and the small radius-of-curvature could enable strong coupling (deterministic capture). An initial demonstrator for single trapped-particle cavity-QED will implement a cavity-coupled two-node quantum link, using coupling protocols developed in WP2. WP2 will focus on using photonic circuits to generalise heralded operations beyond entanglement swapping. Mastering this link is required prior to scaling the approach to cavity networking with 20 nodes.