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Physical Review A

Nonadiabatic approach to quantum optical information storage

Andrey B. Matsko, Yuri V. Rostovtsev, Olga A. Kocharovskaya, Alexander S. Zibrov, Marlan O. Scully

Published Sep 1, 2001• 105 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that there is no need for adiabatic passage in the storage and retrieval of information in the optically thick vapor of Lambda-type atoms. This information can be mapped into and retrieved out of long-lived atomic coherence with nearly perfect efficiency by strong writing and reading pulses with steep rising and falling edges. We elucidate similarities and differences between the ``adiabatic'' and ``instant'' light storage techniques, and conclude that for any switching time, an almost perfect information storage is possible if the group velocity of the signal pulse is much less than the speed of light in the vacuum c and the bandwidth of the signal pulse is much less then the width of the two-photon resonance. The maximum loss of the information appears in the case of instantaneous switching of the writing and reading fields compared with adiabatic switching, and is determined by the ratio of the initial group velocity of the signal pulse in the medium and speed of light in the vacuum c, which can be very small. Quantum restrictions to the storage efficiency are also discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.64.043809

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We show that there is no need for adiabatic passage in the storage and retrieval of information in the optically thick vapor of Lambda-type atoms. This information can be mapped into and retrieved out of long-lived atomic coherence with nearly perfect efficiency by strong writing and reading pulses with steep rising and falling edges. We elucidate similarities and differences between the adiabatic'' and instant'' light storage techniques, and conclude that for any switching time, an almost perfect information storage is possible if the group velocity of the signal pulse is much less than the speed of light in the vacuum c and the bandwidth of the signal pulse is much less then the width of the two-photon resonance. The maximum loss of the information appears in the case of instantaneous switching of the writing and reading fields compared with adiabatic switching, and is determined by the ratio of the initial group velocity of the signal pulse in the medium and speed of light in the vacuum c, which can be very small. Quantum restrictions to the storage efficiency are also discussed.
We extend the theory of quantum light memory in atomic ensemble of Lambda type atoms with considering lower levels coherence decay rate and one and two-photon detunings from resonances in low intensity and adiabatic passage limit. We obtain that with considering these parameters, that there will be a considerable decay of probe pulse and stored information; also, we obtain that the group velocity of probe (light) pulse and its amplitude does not tend to zero by turning off the control field. We propose a method to keep the probe pulse in small values in turn off time of control field and to reduce the loss of the stored probe pulse. In addition, we obtain that in the Off-resonance case there will be a considerable distortion of the output light pulse that causes in loss of the stored information, then we present limitations for detunings and therefore for bandwidths of practical lasers also limitations for maximum storage time to have negligible distortion of stored information. We finally present the numerical calculations and compare them with analytical results.
We extend the theory of quantum light memory in atomic ensemble of Lambda type atoms with considering lower levels coherency decay rate and one and two-photon detunings from resonances in low intensity and adiabatic passage limit. We obtain that with considering these parameters, group velocity of probe (information) pulse and its amplitude does not tend to zero by turning off the control field, therefore there is no complete storage of light. Also, we obtain that there will be a considerable decay of probe pulse and stored information. We calculate the minimum velocity and decay rate for probe (information) pulse. In addition, we obtain that in the Off-resonance case there will be a considerable distortion of the output light pulse that causes in loss of the stored information, then we present limitations for detunings and therefore for bandwidths of practical lasers also limitations for maximum storage time to have negligible distortion of stored information. We finally present the numerical calculations and compare them with analytical results.
We present a universal physical picture for describing storage and retrieval of photon wave packets in a Lambda-type atomic medium. This physical picture encompasses a variety of different approaches to pulse storage ranging from adiabatic reduction of the photon group velocity and pulse-propagation control via off-resonant Raman fields to photon-echo-based techniques. Furthermore, we derive an optimal control strategy for storage and retrieval of a photon wave packet of any given shape. All these approaches, when optimized, yield identical maximum efficiencies, which only depend on the optical depth of the medium.
We consider storage and retrieval of light based on electromagnetically induced transparency in an atomic medium using nonadiabatic switching of a control field. We derive various conditions for writing (and reading) the light information to (and from) the atomic coherence. We obtain an analytical solution for the retrieval of the stored pulse that is in excellent agreement with the full numerical results. We identify the origin of distortion at the output and derive a condition to correct the distortions by manipulating the retrieval process.
We derive an optimal control strategy for storage and retrieval of a photon wavepacket of any given shape in a Lambda-type atomic medium with a limited optical depth. The control is provided by an appropriately shaped classical laser field. We present a universal physical picture encompassing different pulse-storage techniques ranging from adiabatic reduction of the photon group velocity and pulse-propagation control via off-resonant Raman fields to photon-echo based approaches. When properly optimized, all three approaches yield identical maximum efficiencies, which only depend on the optical depth of the medium. Extending the model to include Doppler broadening, we find the surprising result that at high enough optical depth all atoms contribute coherently as if the medium were homogeneously broadened.
Ideal photonic quantum memories can store arbitrary pulses of light with unit efficiency. This requires operating in the adiabatic regime, where pulses have a duration much longer than the bandwidth of the memory. In the nonadiabatic regime of short pulses, memories are therefore imperfect, and information is always lost. We theoretically investigate the bandwidth limitations for setups based on individual atoms, or ensembles thereof, confined inside optical cavities. We identify an effective strategy for optimizing the efficiencies of the storage and retrieval process regardless of the duration or the shape of the pulses. Our protocol is derived almost completely analytically and attains efficiencies that are comparable to those obtained by numerical optimization. Furthermore, our results provide an improved understanding of the performance of quantum memories in several regimes. When considering pulses defined on an infinite time interval, the shapes can be divided into two categories, depending on their asymptotic behaviors. If the intensity of the pulse increases with time slower than or as an exponential function then the storage efficiency is only limited by the pulse width. For pulses defined on a finite interval, on the other hand, the efficiency is determined by the shape at the beginning of the storage or, correspondingly, at the end of the retrieval process.