Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2307.03509 · Optics Express

Efficient cavity-assisted storage of photonic qubits in a solid-state quantum memory

Stefano Duranti, Sören Wengerowsky, Leo Feldmann, Alessandro Seri, Bernardo Casabone, Hugues de Riedmatten

Published Jul 8, 2024• 30 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report on the high-efficiency storage and retrieval of weak coherent optical pulses and photonic qubits in a cavity-enhanced solid-state quantum memory. By using an atomic frequency comb (AFC) memory in a Pr 3+ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity, we stored weak coherent pulses at the single photon level with up to 62% efficiency for a pre-determined storage time of 2 µs. We also confirmed that the impedance-matched cavity enhances the efficiency for longer storage times up to 70 µs. Harnessing the temporal multimodality of the AFC scheme, we stored weak coherent time-bin qubits with a record (51 ± 2%) efficiency and a fidelity over (94.8 ± 1.4)%, limited by imperfections in the qubits creation and measurement.

DOI
10.1364/oe.512318

Related papers

Cavity-Assisted highly efficient Atomic Frequency Comb solid-state Quantum Memory

Stefano Duranti, Sören Wengerowsky, Leo Feldmann +3 more

We report a record high-efficiency a tomic f requency c omb q uantum m emory u sing a Pr3+ :Y2SiO5 crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity. We achieve an efficiency of 62 % for weak coherent pulses and 52 % for time-bin qubits

Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition•Jan 1, 2023•0 citations

Cavity-Enhanced Spin-Wave Solid-State Quantum Memory

Leo Feldmann, Sören Wengerowsky, Antariksha Das +4 more

We report on the realization of an efficient solid-state spin-wave quantum memory, with on-demand readout, using the full atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme in a Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity. We demonstrate operation at the single-photon level by storing weak coherent states with an efficiency up to (40±2)% and a signal-to-noise ratio of 14 for an input photon number of 0.42 photons per pulse. We also investigated the enhancement of the incoherent noise due to the impedance-matched cavity and characterized the quantum memory performance, showing a two-way transfer from excited to spin states and back of up to 83%. Finally, we confirmed the quantum nature of our memory by storing nonclassical states of light, i.e., a heralded single photon from a nondegenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion source, and achieved nonclassical correlations between the heralding and the stored-and-retrieved photon. These results demonstrate that impedance-matched AFC spin-wave quantum memories with on-demand readout can be used for experiments involving the storage of photonic quantum states. They also open the door to solid-state on-demand quantum memories with very high efficiencies, serving as a key resource for quantum networks and quantum repeaters.

Physical Review Letters•Aug 6, 2025•7 citations

Cavity-enhanced storage in an optical spin-wave memory

Pierre Jobez, Imam Usmani, Nuala Timoney +3 more

We report on the experimental demonstration of an optical spin-wave memory, based on the atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme, where the storage efficiency is strongly enhanced by an optical cavity. The cavity is of low finesse, but operated in an impedance matching regime to achieve high absorption in our intrinsically low-absorbing Eu 3+ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal. For storage of optical pulses as an optical excitation (AFC echoes), we reach efficiencies of 53% and 28% for 2 μ s and 10 μ s delays, respectively. For a complete AFC spin-wave memory we reach an efficiency of 12%, including spin-wave dephasing, which is a 12-fold increase with respect to previous results in this material. This result is an important step towards the goal of making efficient and long-lived quantum memories based on spin waves, in the context of quantum repeaters and quantum networks.

arXiv:1404.3489•New Journal of Physics•Aug 4, 2014•144 citations

Efficient Quantum Memory Using a Weakly Absorbing Sample

Mahmood Sabooni, Qian Li, Stefan Kröll +1 more

A light-storage experiment with a total (storage and retrieval) efficiency η=56% is carried out by enclosing a sample, with a single-pass absorption of 10%, in an impedance-matched cavity. The experiment is carried out using the atomic frequency comb (AFC) technique in a praseodymium-doped crystal (0.05%Pr(3+):Y2SiO5) and the cavity is created by depositing reflection coatings directly onto the crystal surfaces. The AFC technique has previously by far demonstrated the highest multimode capacity of all quantum memory concepts tested experimentally. We claim that the present work shows that it is realistic to create efficient, on-demand, long storage time AFC memories.

arXiv:1301.0636•Physical Review Letters•Mar 26, 2013•210 citations

Quantum Storage of a Photonic Polarization Qubit in a Solid

Mustafa Gündoğan, Patrick M. Ledingham, Attaallah Almasi +2 more

We report on the quantum storage and retrieval of photonic polarization quantum bits onto and out of a solid state storage device. The qubits are implemented with weak coherent states at the single photon level, and are stored for a predetermined time of 500 ns in a praseodymium doped crystal with a storage and retrieval efficiency of 10%, using the atomic frequency comb scheme. We characterize the storage by using quantum state tomography, and find that the average conditional fidelity of the retrieved qubits exceeds 95% for a mean photon number μ=0.4. This is significantly higher than a classical benchmark, taking into account the poissonian statistics and finite memory efficiency, which proves that our crystal functions as a quantum storage device for polarization qubits. These results extend the storage capabilities of solid state quantum light matter interfaces to polarization encoding, which is widely used in quantum information science.

arXiv:1201.4149•Physical Review Letters•May 10, 2012•148 citations

Solid State Spin-Wave Quantum Memory for Time-Bin Qubits

Mustafa Gündoğan, Patrick M. Ledingham, Kutlu Kutluer +2 more

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 $>10$. 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.

arXiv:1501.03980•Physical Review Letters•Jun 12, 2015•213 citations
We report on the high-efficiency storage and retrieval of weak coherent optical pulses and photonic qubits in a cavity-enhanced solid-state quantum memory. By using an atomic frequency comb (AFC) memory in a Pr 3+ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity, we stored weak coherent pulses at the single photon level with up to 62% efficiency for a pre-determined storage time of 2 µs. We also confirmed that the impedance-matched cavity enhances the efficiency for longer storage times up to 70 µs. Harnessing the temporal multimodality of the AFC scheme, we stored weak coherent time-bin qubits with a record (51 ± 2%) efficiency and a fidelity over (94.8 ± 1.4)%, limited by imperfections in the qubits creation and measurement.
We report on the realization of an efficient solid-state spin-wave quantum memory, with on-demand readout, using the full atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme in a Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity. We demonstrate operation at the single-photon level by storing weak coherent states with an efficiency up to (40±2)% and a signal-to-noise ratio of 14 for an input photon number of 0.42 photons per pulse. We also investigated the enhancement of the incoherent noise due to the impedance-matched cavity and characterized the quantum memory performance, showing a two-way transfer from excited to spin states and back of up to 83%. Finally, we confirmed the quantum nature of our memory by storing nonclassical states of light, i.e., a heralded single photon from a nondegenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion source, and achieved nonclassical correlations between the heralding and the stored-and-retrieved photon. These results demonstrate that impedance-matched AFC spin-wave quantum memories with on-demand readout can be used for experiments involving the storage of photonic quantum states. They also open the door to solid-state on-demand quantum memories with very high efficiencies, serving as a key resource for quantum networks and quantum repeaters.
We report on the experimental demonstration of an optical spin-wave memory, based on the atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme, where the storage efficiency is strongly enhanced by an optical cavity. The cavity is of low finesse, but operated in an impedance matching regime to achieve high absorption in our intrinsically low-absorbing Eu 3+ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal. For storage of optical pulses as an optical excitation (AFC echoes), we reach efficiencies of 53% and 28% for 2 μ s and 10 μ s delays, respectively. For a complete AFC spin-wave memory we reach an efficiency of 12%, including spin-wave dephasing, which is a 12-fold increase with respect to previous results in this material. This result is an important step towards the goal of making efficient and long-lived quantum memories based on spin waves, in the context of quantum repeaters and quantum networks.
A light-storage experiment with a total (storage and retrieval) efficiency η=56% is carried out by enclosing a sample, with a single-pass absorption of 10%, in an impedance-matched cavity. The experiment is carried out using the atomic frequency comb (AFC) technique in a praseodymium-doped crystal (0.05%Pr(3+):Y2SiO5) and the cavity is created by depositing reflection coatings directly onto the crystal surfaces. The AFC technique has previously by far demonstrated the highest multimode capacity of all quantum memory concepts tested experimentally. We claim that the present work shows that it is realistic to create efficient, on-demand, long storage time AFC memories.
We report on the quantum storage and retrieval of photonic polarization quantum bits onto and out of a solid state storage device. The qubits are implemented with weak coherent states at the single photon level, and are stored for a predetermined time of 500 ns in a praseodymium doped crystal with a storage and retrieval efficiency of 10%, using the atomic frequency comb scheme. We characterize the storage by using quantum state tomography, and find that the average conditional fidelity of the retrieved qubits exceeds 95% for a mean photon number μ=0.4. This is significantly higher than a classical benchmark, taking into account the poissonian statistics and finite memory efficiency, which proves that our crystal functions as a quantum storage device for polarization qubits. These results extend the storage capabilities of solid state quantum light matter interfaces to polarization encoding, which is widely used in quantum information science.
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.