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International Journal of Quantum Information

GENERATION OF NARROW-BANDWIDTH SINGLE PHOTONS USING ELECTROMAGNETICALLY INDUCED TRANSPARENCY IN ATOMIC ENSEMBLES

Philip John Walther, Matthew D. Eisaman, Axel André, F. Massou, Michael Fleischhauer, Alexander S. Zibrov, Mikhail D. Lukin

Published Feb 1, 2007• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We review recent experiments [M. D. Eisaman et al., Nature438 (2005) 837] demonstrating the generation of narrow-bandwidth single photons using a room-temperature ensemble of 87 Rb atoms. Our method involves creation of an atomic coherence via Raman scattering and projective measurement, followed by the coherent transfer of this atomic coherence onto a single photon using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The single photons generated using this method are shown to have many properties necessary for quantum information protocols, such as narrow bandwidths, directional emission, and controllable pulse shapes. The narrow bandwidths of these single photons (~MHz), resulting from their matching to the EIT resonance (~MHz), allow them to be stored in narrow-bandwidth quantum memories. We demonstrate this by using dynamic EIT to store and retrieve the single photons in a second ensemble for storage times up to a few microseconds. We also describe recent improvements to the single-photon fidelity compared to the work by M. D. Eisaman in Nature438 (2005) 837. These techniques may prove useful in quantum information applications such as quantum repeaters, linear-optics quantum computation, and daytime free-space quantum communication.

DOI
10.1142/s0219749907002773

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We review recent experiments [M. D. Eisaman et al., Nature438 (2005) 837] demonstrating the generation of narrow-bandwidth single photons using a room-temperature ensemble of 87 Rb atoms. Our method involves creation of an atomic coherence via Raman scattering and projective measurement, followed by the coherent transfer of this atomic coherence onto a single photon using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The single photons generated using this method are shown to have many properties necessary for quantum information protocols, such as narrow bandwidths, directional emission, and controllable pulse shapes. The narrow bandwidths of these single photons (~MHz), resulting from their matching to the EIT resonance (~MHz), allow them to be stored in narrow-bandwidth quantum memories. We demonstrate this by using dynamic EIT to store and retrieve the single photons in a second ensemble for storage times up to a few microseconds. We also describe recent improvements to the single-photon fidelity compared to the work by M. D. Eisaman in Nature438 (2005) 837. These techniques may prove useful in quantum information applications such as quantum repeaters, linear-optics quantum computation, and daytime free-space quantum communication.
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.
Optical quantum memories are important components in the long-distance quantum communication based on quantum repeater protocol. To outperform the direct transmission of light with quantum repeaters, it is crucial to develop quantum memories with high fidelity, high efficiency and long storage time. Recently, we demonstrate that it is feasible to achieve a high storage efficiency of 92% for electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT)-based memory with weak coherent signal pulses in cold atomic ensembles [1]. To realize the highly-efficient memory with quantum light, we have built a bright and narrowband photon-pair source which can be locked to atomic transition based on the cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down conversion [2]. Here, we present our results on the storage of single photons generated by such a source in EIT-based memories. A storage efficiency of 36% is obtained in initial runs. Future improvements toward a high efficiency are discussed. Such a development paves the way for the applications of photon-pair-based quantum repeater and multi-photon synchronization.
Quantum memories can substantially increase the efficiency of long-distance communications by synchronizing entanglement swapping operations in quantum repeater nodes. To build a quantum memory, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atomic vapors can be exploited to coherently store light pulses even at room temperatures. As a quantum source of light, semiconductor quantum dots (QD) offer bright on-demand single photons with high purity.4 Interfacing QDs with atomic vapors has been shown by “slow light” but a quantum memory for QDs is yet to be demonstrated. In this work, we develop an EIT quantum memory hosted in warm cesium vapor. Storage of faint coherent light pulses on the single photon level shows high storage efficiency. A measured bandwidth in the order of 200 MHz makes the memory compatible with the Fourier-limited emission of QDs embedded in micropillar cavities. We show the first attempts to interface the emission from a QD-micropillar with our quantum memory by finetuning the emission wavelength of the emitters to one of the hyperfine transitions in Cs, where the EIT memory takes place. This work sets the base for a hybrid quantum memory based on atomic ensembles for an on-demand semiconductor single-photon source.
We describe proof-of principle experiments demonstrating a novel approach for generating pulses of light with controllable photon numbers, propagation direction, timing, and pulse shapes. The approach is based on preparation of an atomic ensemble in a state with a desired number of atomic spin excitations, which is later converted into a photon pulse by exploiting long-lived coherent memory for photon states and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We discuss our progress toward applying these techniques to transmit quantum states between atomic memory nodes connected by a photonic channel.
This thesis set out to investigate light storage based on dynamic electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a room-temperature atomic ensemble of rubidium as a means to provide a quantum memory for single-photons created by a single rubidium atom coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator. Setting up the light storage medium presented a new addition to the research group's portfolio of experimental techniques and led to investigations of EIT, slow light and stored light in warm rubidium-87 vapour. Lambda level schemes connecting Zeeman or hyperfine substates on the D1 and D2 lines were addressed in rubidium vapour cells containing different buffer gases and different isotopic fractions of rubidium-87 and rubidium-85. Single beam spectroscopy with a weak probe was used to characterise the vapour cells. A numerical method to fit the D line spectrum to a theoretical model to include isotopic fractions and collisional broadening of a buffer gas has been implemented. Temperature and isotopic fractions could be reliably extracted from the fit parameters. For an offset-stabilisation of two lasers to address a lambda level scheme connecting the two different hyperfine groundstates in rubidium a phase locked loop including a frequency divider has been designed and implemented. Light storage and retrieval has been demonstrated using a Zeeman scheme on the D1 line. Two microsecond long classical light pulses containing one million photons on average were stored and retrieved with an efficiency of 15% after a delay of one microsecond. Several methods of attenuating the strong co-propagating control laser beam to allow for lowering the signal pulse intensity in future experiments are discussed.
Quantum memories, devices that can store and retrieve photonic quantum states on demand, are essential components for scalable quantum technologies. It is desirable to push the memory towards the broadband regime in order to increase the data rate. Here, we present a theoretical and experimental study of broadband optical memory based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) protocol. We first provide a theoretical analysis of the issues and requirements needed to achieve broadband EIT memory. We then present our experimental efforts for the movement of EIT memory in cold atoms towards the broadband or short-pulse regime. A storage efficiency of $\ensuremath{\sim}80%$ with a pulse duration of 30 ns (corresponding to a bandwidth of 14.7 MHz) is realized. Due to limitations of the available intensity of the control beam, we could not achieve an optimal storage for the even shorter pulses but were still able to obtain an efficiency of greater than 5050%50 with a pulse duration of 14 ns (31.4 MHz). The time-bandwidth product achieved at an efficiency of 5050%50 is 1267(89).