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Heralded single photon storage in a room-temperature, broadband quantum memory

Patrick Michelberger, J. Nunn, T. F. M. Champion, Michael Sprague, K. Kacmarek, D. J. Saunders, W. S. Kolthammer, Xian‐Min Jin, Duncan G. England, Ian A. Walmsley

Published Jan 1, 2014• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate storage of heralded single photons in a room-temperature quantum memory, a key step towards scalable quantum networks. We evaluate the photon statistics of the stored photons and discuss limitations from four-wave mixing noise.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_qels.2014.ftu2a.5

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Abstract Non-classical photon sources are a crucial resource for distributed quantum networks. Photons generated from matter systems with memory capability are particularly promising, as they can be integrated into a network where each source is used on-demand. Among all kinds of solid state and atomic quantum memories, room-temperature atomic vapours are especially attractive due to their robustness and potential scalability. To-date room-temperature photon sources have been limited either in their memory time or the purity of the photonic state. Here we demonstrate a single-photon source based on room-temperature memory. Following heralded loading of the memory, a single photon is retrieved from it after a variable storage time. The single-photon character of the retrieved field is validated by the strong suppression of the two-photon component with antibunching as low as gRR∣W=1(2)=0.20±0.07{g}_{{\rm{RR| W = 1}}}^{(2)}=0.20\pm 0.07gRR∣W=1(2)​=0.20±0.07 g RR∣W=1 ( 2 ) = 0.20 ± 0.07 . Non-classical correlations between the heralding and the retrieved photons are maintained for up to τNCR=(0.68±0.08) ms{\tau }_{{\rm{NC}}}^{{\mathcal{R}}}=(0.68\pm 0.08)\ {\rm{ms}}τNCR​=(0.68±0.08) ms τ NC R = ( 0.68 ± 0.08 ) ms , more than two orders of magnitude longer than previously demonstrated with other room-temperature systems. Correlations sufficient for violating Bell inequalities exist for up to τBI = (0.15 ± 0.03) ms.
Quantum memories capable of storing single photons are essential building blocks for quantum information processing, enabling the storage and transfer of quantum information over long distances. Devices operating at room temperature can be deployed on a large scale and integrated into existing photonic networks, but so far warm quantum memories have been susceptible to noise at the single photon level. Using a fundamentally different approach to quantum memories, i.e. the recently developed far off-resonant Raman memory scheme, the authors present a highly efficient room-temperature memory that is able to operate with a low unconditional noise floor in the quantum regime, something that no other room-temperature memory has been able to demonstrate before.
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