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arXiv:2506.06651 · Physical Review Research

Cavity optomechanical quantum memory for twisted photons using a ring Bose-Einstein condensate

Nilamoni Daloi, Rahul Gupta, Aritra Ghosh, Pardeep Kumar, Himadri Shekhar Dhar, M. Bhattacharya

Published Dec 15, 2025• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We theoretically propose a photonic orbital angular momentum quantum memory, currently of great interest from the perspective of quantum networks, based on a ring-trapped Bose-Einstein condensate interacting with Laguerre-Gaussian beams. The optical states are stored in the large Hilbert space of topologically protected persistent currents of the condensate. In contrast to earlier work, our proposal uses a cavity, which enhances the light-matter interaction by several orders of magnitude, resulting in high fidelity, convenient detection, and no need to repeat read-write cycles degraded by atom loss. Our scheme avoids using multiple internal atomic states as in generic electromagnetically induced transparency-based protocols and thus bypasses problems like off-resonant photoassociation by the control fields and dephasing effects that limit memory storage time. For optimized parameters, our work yields a storage time 3 orders of magnitude better than presently available and opens the way for exploiting existing advantages of cavity-based noise suppression, wavelength transduction, large bandwidth, and nondestructive readout of the memory.

DOI
10.1103/zd1d-39d7

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We theoretically propose a photonic orbital angular momentum quantum memory, currently of great interest from the perspective of quantum networks, based on a ring-trapped Bose-Einstein condensate interacting with Laguerre-Gaussian beams. The optical states are stored in the large Hilbert space of topologically protected persistent currents of the condensate. In contrast to earlier work, our proposal uses a cavity, which enhances the light-matter interaction by several orders of magnitude, resulting in high fidelity, convenient detection, and no need to repeat read-write cycles degraded by atom loss. Our scheme avoids using multiple internal atomic states as in generic electromagnetically induced transparency-based protocols and thus bypasses problems like off-resonant photoassociation by the control fields and dephasing effects that limit memory storage time. For optimized parameters, our work yields a storage time 3 orders of magnitude better than presently available and opens the way for exploiting existing advantages of cavity-based noise suppression, wavelength transduction, large bandwidth, and nondestructive readout of the memory.
Summary form only given. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has raised a great deal of applications [1], ranging from the trapping of particles, the driving of optical micromachines to applications in astrophysics studies. In quantum optics, twisted single-photons have also been identified as promising carriers for the implementation of various quantum information protocols. They indeed offer the possibility to encode and process information in high-dimensional Hilbert spaces and could enable to reach higher efficiencies and enhanced information capacity. For further applications in quantum networks involving light-matter interfaces, a critical capability is the ability to reversibly map OAM into and out of atomic memories. While the storage of bright beams of light in Laguerre-Gaussian modes has been reported in the past few years [2, 3], we report here the first demonstration of storage in the single-photon regime [4]. The experimental realization proceeds in the following way. First, LG modes are generated using a spatial light modulator. These modes, which are weak coherent states at the single-photon level, are then mapped into an ensemble of cold cesium atoms in a magneto-optical trap using the dynamic electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) protocol. The signal quantum properties, including its OAM, are expected to be transferred to the atomic medium and can be stored for a programmable time, limited by the lifetime of the atomic coherence. After this reversible storage, unlike for bright beams, the detection of twisted single-photons cannot be performed by imaging on a CCD camera. Here we have chosen to work with a combination of a computergenerated hologram, which adds or subtracts one unity of OAM, and a single-mode fiber to implement a mode discriminator. In our experiment, the output mode is actually split on a 50/50 beam splitter and one discriminator is installed in each of the two output paths so that we can quantify both the LG+1 and LG-1 components of the retrieved light. We stored and retrieved LG+1 and LG-1 modes. As can be seen in fig. 1, detection events in the detection path with l opposite to the one of the incoming mode are negligible, within the distinction ratio. For both modes, the overall storage and retrieval efficiency is (16 ± 2%). We thus demonstrated that such pulses carrying OAM can be stored in the single-photon regime into and out the ensemble with preserved handedness of the helical phase structure. Mapping of a TEM10 mode, i.e. an equal-weight superposition of LG+1 and LG-1 modes was also performed. Within our experimental precision, the achieved storage and retrieval efficiency is the same here each LG components than for the individual storage presented previously. Further works should include reconstruction of a full density matrix, including coherences not measured here, and the calculation of process fidelity. We implemented a sophisticated detection technique based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Preliminary results will be reported. Extensions to higher alphabets for the realization of high-dimensional quantum information networks is also work for future.
Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre-Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers | l |, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.
We report on an experiment in which orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is mapped at the single-photon level into and out of a cold atomic ensemble. Based on the dynamic electromagnetically induced transparency protocol, the demonstrated optical memory enables the reversible mapping of Laguerre-Gaussian modes with preserved handedness of the helical phase structure. The demonstrated capability opens the possibility to the storage of qubits encoded as superpositions of OAM states and to multidimensional light matter interfacing.
A scheme based on electromagnetically induced transparency is used to store light in a Bose-Einstein condensate. In this process, a photonic polarization qubit is stored in atomic Zeeman states. The performance of the storage process is characterized and optimized. The average process fidelity is $1.000\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.004$. For long storage times, temporal fluctuations of the magnetic field reduce this value, yielding a lifetime of the fidelity of $(1.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2)$ ms. The write-read efficiency of the pulse energy can reach $0.53\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05$.
We report on an experiment in which orbital angular momentum of light is mapped at the single-photon level into and out of a cold atomic ensemble. Based on the dynamic electromagnetically-induced transparency protocol, the demonstrated optical memory enables the reversible mapping of Laguerre-gaussian modes with preserved handedness of the helical phase structure. The demonstrated capability opens the possibility to the storage of qubits encoded as superpositions of orbital angular momentum states and to multi-dimensional
Quantum memories are an essential building block for quantum information science, and in particular for the implementation of quantum communications across long distances. A quantum memory is defined as a system capable of storing and retrieving quantum states on-demand, such as quantum bits (qubits). Atomic ensembles are good candidates for this purpose because they enables strong light-matter coupling in case of a large number of atoms. Moreover, the collective effect, enhanced in the regime of large optical depth, can lead to storage efficiency close to unity. Thus, in this thesis, a large magneto-optical trap for cesium atoms is used as a atomic medium in order to implement a quantum memory protocol based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). First, the EIT phenomenon is studied through a criterion for the discrimination between the EIT and the Autler-Townes splitting models. We then report on the implementation of an EIT-based memory for photonic qubits encoded in orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light. A reversible memory for Laguerre-Gaussian modes is implemented, and we demonstrate that the optical memory preserves the handedness of the helical structure at the single-photon level. Then, a full quantum state tomography of the retrieved OAM encoded qubits is performed, giving fidelities above the classical bound. This showed that our optical memory operates in the quantum regime. Finally, we present the implementation of the so-called DLCZ protocol in our ensemble of cold atoms, enabling the generation of heralded single photons. A homodyne detection setup allows us to realize the quantum tomography of the created photonic state.