A high-storage efficiency and long-live quantum memory for photons is an essential component for the information processing in long-distance quantum communication and optical quantum computation. We demonstrated a 78% storage efficiency (SE) of coherent light pulses with a cold atomic medium based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We also obtained a large fractional delay of 74 at 50% SE, which is the best record to date. The measured fidelity of the memory is better than 90%. The results suggest the EIT light-matter interface can be readily applied to single-photon quantum states. Our work greatly advances the technology of EIT-based quantum memory for the practical quantum information applications.
On-demand storage and retrieval of quantum information in coherent light-matter interfaces is a key requirement for future quantum networking and quantum communication applications. Alkali vapor memories offer scalable and robust high-bandwidth storage at high repetition rates which makes them a natural fit to interface with solid-state single-photon sources. Here, we experimentally realize a room-temperature ladder-type atomic vapor memory that operates on the Cs D1 line. We provide a detailed experimental characterization and demonstration of on-demand storage and retrieval of weak coherent laser pulses with 0.06 photons per pulse at a high signal-to-noise ratio of SNR
=830(80). The memory achieves a maximum internal storage efficiency of
ηint=15(1)% and an estimated
1/e-storage time of
τs≈32ns. Benchmark properties for the storage of single photons from inhomogeneously broadened state-of-the-art solid-state emitters are estimated from the performance of the memory. Together with the immediate availability of high-quality InGaAs quantum dots emitting at 895\,nm, these results provide clear prospects for the development of a heterogeneous on-demand quantum light interface.
Quantum memories are a crucial element toward efficient quantum protocols. In the continuous variables domain, such memories need to provide high fidelity with an efficiency set to one. Moreover, one needs to store complex quantum states exhibiting negative Wigner functions after storage. We report the storage of single- and two-photon Fock states in an all-optical quantum memory. The Wigner functions of these states show negativity after a storage time of several hundred nanoseconds. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of the storage in the optical domain of non-Gaussian states with more than one photon, captured from an external source and characterized with homodyne detection.