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arXiv:1010.3975 · Physical Review Letters

Single-Photon-Level Quantum Memory at Room Temperature

K. F. Reim, Patrick Michelberger, K. C. Lee, J. Nunn, Nathan K. Langford, Ian A. Walmsley

Published Jul 25, 2011• 253 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Room-temperature, easy-to-operate quantum memories are essential building blocks for future long distance quantum information networks operating on an intercontinental scale, because devices like quantum repeaters, based on quantum memories, will have to be deployed in potentially remote, inaccessible locations. Here we demonstrate controllable, broadband and efficient storage and retrieval of weak coherent light pulses at the single-photon level in warm atomic cesium vapor using the robust far off-resonant Raman memory scheme. We show that the unconditional noise floor of this technically simple quantum memory is low enough to operate in the quantum regime, even in a room-temperature environment.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.107.053603

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Room-temperature, easy-to-operate quantum memories are essential building blocks for future long distance quantum information networks operating on an intercontinental scale, because devices like quantum repeaters, based on quantum memories, will have to be deployed in potentially remote, inaccessible locations. Here we demonstrate controllable, broadband and efficient storage and retrieval of weak coherent light pulses at the single-photon level in warm atomic cesium vapor using the robust far off-resonant Raman memory scheme. We show that the unconditional noise floor of this technically simple quantum memory is low enough to operate in the quantum regime, even in a room-temperature environment.
Quantum memories capable of storing single photons are essential building blocks for quantum information processing, enabling the storage and transfer of quantum information over long distances. Devices operating at room temperature can be deployed on a large scale and integrated into existing photonic networks, but so far warm quantum memories have been susceptible to noise at the single photon level. Using a fundamentally different approach to quantum memories, i.e. the recently developed far off-resonant Raman memory scheme, the authors present a highly efficient room-temperature memory that is able to operate with a low unconditional noise floor in the quantum regime, something that no other room-temperature memory has been able to demonstrate before.
This thesis is about the experimental implementation of a high-speed and robust quantum memory for light. A novel far off-resonant Raman approach to ensemble-based quantum memories in a room-temperature environment is developed and demonstrated. Storage and retrieval of sub-nanosecond, weak coherent light pulses at the single-photon-level with total efficiencies exceeding 30% and storage times of up to 4 μs are achieved. The coherence of the memory is shown by directly interfering a copy of the incident signal with the retrieved signal from the memory. The unconditional noise floor of the memory is found to be low enough to operate the memory in the quantum regime at room temperature. Multiple readout of a single stored excitation is demonstrated, suggesting that 100% readout is possible in different temporal modes. Furthermore, first results regarding the storage and retrieval of polarisation encoded qubits are obtained. This and the memory’s ability to operate in the quantum regime at room temperature with a low unconditional noise floor illustrate its potential usefulness for real world applications.
This thesis is about the experimental implementation of a high-speed and robust quantum memory for light. A novel far off-resonant Raman approach to ensemble-based quantum memories in a room-temperature environment is developed and demonstrated. Storage and retrieval of sub-nanosecond, weak coherent light pulses at the single-photon-level with total efficiencies exceeding 30% and storage times of up to 4 μs are achieved. The coherence of the memory is shown by directly interfering a copy of the incident signal with the retrieved signal from the memory. The unconditional noise floor of the memory is found to be low enough to operate the memory in the quantum regime at room temperature. Multiple readout of a single stored excitation is demonstrated, suggesting that 100% readout is possible in different temporal modes. Furthermore, first results regarding the storage and retrieval of polarisation encoded qubits are obtained. This and the memory’s ability to operate in the quantum regime at room temperature with a low unconditional noise floor illustrate its potential usefulness for real world applications.
Interfacing light from solid-state single-photon sources with scalable and robust room-temperature quantum memories has been a long-standing challenge in photonic quantum information technologies due to inherent noise processes and time-scale mismatches between the operating conditions of solid-state and atomic systems. Here, we demonstrate on-demand storage and retrieval of single photons from a semiconductor quantum dot device in a room-temperature atomic vapor memory. A deterministically fabricated InGaAs quantum dot light source emits single photons at the wavelength of the cesium D1 line at 895\,nm which exhibit an inhomogeneously broadened linewidth of 5.1(7)\,GHz and are subsequently stored in a low-noise ladder-type cesium vapor memory. We show control over the interaction between the single photons and the atomic vapor, allowing for variable retrieval times of up to 19.8(3)\,ns at an internal efficiency of ηint=0.6(1)%η_\mathrm{int}=0.6(1)\%ηint​=0.6(1)%. Our results significantly expand the application space of both room-temperature vapor memories and semiconductor quantum dots in future quantum network architectures.
Quantum memories play a pivotal role in establishing long-distance communication by entanglement swapping operations within quantum repeater nodes. Constructing such a quantum memory involves Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) within atomic vapors at room temperatures to store highly attenuated coherent light pulses down to the level of single photons. The photons may be generated from quantum nodes containing stationary quantum systems, such as atoms or semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). QDs serve as a potent source of quantum light, furnishing bright, precisely timed single photons of exceptional purity. While previous endeavors have demonstrated the integration of QDs with atomic vapors through techniques like “slow light,” the development of a dedicated quantum memory for QDs remains unmatched. In our study, we introduce an EIT quantum memory hosted within warm cesium vapor. Our approach exhibits a good efficiency in storing faint coherent light pulses at the single photon level. Moreover, the measured bandwidth of around 200 MHz approaches the Fourier-limited emission characteristics of QDs. We present initial efforts to match the emission from QDs with our quantum memory and discuss application scenarios of room temperature EIT quantum memories.