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arXiv:2109.06669 · npj Quantum Information

Storage of photonic time-bin qubits for up to 20 ms in a rare-earth doped crystal

Antonio Ortu, Adrian Holzäpfel, Jean Etesse, Mikael Afzelius

Published Mar 15, 2022• 115 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Long-duration quantum memories for photonic qubits are essential components for achieving long-distance quantum networks and repeaters. The mapping of optical states onto coherent spin-waves in rare earth ensembles is a particularly promising approach to quantum storage. However, it remains challenging to achieve long-duration storage at the quantum level due to read-out noise caused by the required spin-wave manipulation. In this work, we apply dynamical decoupling techniques and a small magnetic field to achieve the storage of six temporal modes for 20, 50, and 100 ms in a 151Eu3+:Y2SiO5 crystal, based on an atomic frequency comb memory, where each temporal mode contains around one photon on average. The quantum coherence of the memory is verified by storing two time-bin qubits for 20 ms, with an average memory output fidelity of F = (85 ± 2)% for an average number of photons per qubit of μin = 0.92 ± 0.04. The qubit analysis is done at the read-out of the memory, using a type of composite adiabatic read-out pulse we developed.

DOI
10.1038/s41534-022-00541-3

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Abstract Long-duration quantum memories for photonic qubits are essential components for achieving long-distance quantum networks and repeaters. The mapping of optical states onto coherent spin-waves in rare earth ensembles is a particularly promising approach to quantum storage. However, it remains challenging to achieve long-duration storage at the quantum level due to read-out noise caused by the required spin-wave manipulation. In this work, we apply dynamical decoupling techniques and a small magnetic field to achieve the storage of six temporal modes for 20, 50, and 100 ms in a 151Eu3+:Y2SiO5 crystal, based on an atomic frequency comb memory, where each temporal mode contains around one photon on average. The quantum coherence of the memory is verified by storing two time-bin qubits for 20 ms, with an average memory output fidelity of F = (85 ± 2)% for an average number of photons per qubit of μin = 0.92 ± 0.04. The qubit analysis is done at the read-out of the memory, using a type of composite adiabatic read-out pulse we developed.
A long-lived quantum memory is a firm requirement for implementing a quantum repeater scheme. Recent progress in solid-state rare-earth-ion-doped systems justifies their status as very strong candidates for such systems. Nonetheless an optical memory based on spin-wave storage at the single-photon level has not been shown in such a system to date, which is crucial for achieving the long storage times required for quantum repeaters. In this paper we show that it is possible to execute a complete atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme, including spin-wave storage, with weak coherent pulses of $\overline{n}=2.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.6$ photons per pulse. We discuss in detail the experimental steps required to obtain this result and demonstrate the coherence of a stored time-bin pulse. We show a noise level of $(7.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2.3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ photons per mode during storage, and this relatively low noise level paves the way for future quantum optics experiments using spin waves in rare-earth-doped crystals.
Rare-earth (RE) doped crystals are promising candidates as quantum memories as they offer coherence properties comparable to those of atomic systems, but free of the drawbacks deriving from the atomic motion. The research on RE doped crystals quantum memories has been so far mostly focused on the mapping of quantum bits to optical collective excitations using the atomic frequency comb (AFC) or the gradient echo memory protocols [1-3]. However, this leads to short lived and mostly pre-determined storage. In this contribution, we report the first solid state spin-wave optical quantum memory with on-demand read-out. We also demonstrate the first spin-wave storage of time-bin qubits with conditional fidelities higher than for classical memories [4].
Abstract Quantum memories with long storage times are key elements in long-distance quantum networks. The atomic frequency comb (AFC) memory in particular has shown great promise to fulfill this role, having demonstrated multimode capacity and spin–photon quantum correlations. However, the memory storage times have so-far been limited to about 1 ms, realized in a Eu3+ doped Y2SiO5 crystal at zero applied magnetic field. Motivated by studies showing increased spin coherence times under applied magnetic field, we developed an AFC spin-wave memory utilizing a weak 15 mT magnetic field in a specific direction that allows efficient optical and spin manipulation for AFC memory operations. With this field configuration the AFC spin-wave storage time increased to 40 ms using a simple spin-echo sequence. Furthermore, by applying dynamical decoupling techniques the spin-wave coherence time reaches 530 ms, a 300-fold increase with respect to previous AFC spin-wave storage experiments. This result paves the way towards long duration storage of quantum information in solid-state ensemble memories.
We demonstrate the first solid-state spin-wave optical quantum memory with on-demand read-out. Using the full atomic frequency comb scheme in a ${\mathrm{Pr}}^{3+}\ensuremath{\mathbin:}{\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{SiO}}_{5}$ crystal, we store weak coherent pulses at the single-photon level with a signal-to-noise ratio >10>10>10. Narrow-band spectral filtering based on spectral hole burning in a second ${\mathrm{Pr}}^{3+}\ensuremath{\mathbin:}{\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{SiO}}_{5}$ crystal is used to filter out the excess noise created by control pulses to reach an unconditional noise level of $(2.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ photons per pulse. We also report spin-wave storage of photonic time-bin qubits with conditional fidelities higher than achievable by a measure and prepare strategy, demonstrating that the spin-wave memory operates in the quantum regime. This makes our device the first demonstration of a quantum memory for time-bin qubits, with on-demand read-out of the stored quantum information. These results represent an important step for the use of solid-state quantum memories in scalable quantum networks.
Long-lived storage of single photons is a fundamental requirement for enabling quantum communication and foundational tests of quantum physics over extended distances. While the implementation of a global-scale quantum network requires quantum storage times on the order of seconds to minutes, existing photonic quantum memories have so far been limited to subsecond lifetimes. Although 151^{151}151Eu3+^{3+}3+:Y2_22​SiO5_55​ crystals exhibit substantially extended spin coherence times at the `magic' magnetic field, the concomitant weak optical absorption has until now prevented single-photon storage. Here, we overcome this challenge by integrating a noiseless photon echo protocol--which makes full use of the crystal's natural absorption for photonic storage--with a universally robust dynamical decoupling sequence incorporating adiabatic pulses to efficiently protect delocalized spin-wave excitation, enabling long-lived quantum storage at the `magic' magnetic field. At a storage time of 5.6 s, we achieve a time-bin qubit storage fidelity of 88.0 ±\pm± 2.1%, surpassing the maximum fidelity attainable via classical strategies. Our device reaches a 1/e1/e1/e storage lifetime of 27.6 ±\pm± 0.5 s, enabling single-photon-level storage for 42 s with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than unity. This work establishes photonic quantum memory in the minute-scale regime, laying a solid foundation for global-scale quantum network and deep-space quantum experiments.
Optical quantum memories are essential components for realizing the full potential of quantum networks. Among these, rare-earth-doped crystal memories stand out due to their large multimode storage capabilities. To maximize the multimode capacity in the time domain, it is key to simultaneously achieve large memory bandwidth and long optical storage time. Here, we demonstrate an atomic frequency comb optical memory in 171Yb3+:Y2SiO5 , with a memory bandwidth of 250 MHz and a storage time of up to 125 µs. The efficiency reaches 20% at short storage times, and 5% at 125 µs. These results were enabled by an optimized optical pumping scheme, guided by numerical modelling. Our approach is specifically designed for future spin-wave storage experiments, with the theoretical bandwidth limit set at 288 MHz by the hyperfine structure of 171Yb3+:Y2SiO5 . Additionally, we introduce an efficient method for synthesizing the optical pumping waveforms required for generating combs with tens of thousands of teeth, as well as a simple yet frequency-agile laser setup for optical pumping across a 10 GHz bandwidth.