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Controlling Photon Echoes with the Light Shift

Hamish Callum McDonald

Published Jan 1, 2016• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

Recent progress with rare-earth-ion ensemble quantum memories has resulted in a family of echo-memory protocols which use sequences of pulsed light fields to recall a pulse stored in the ensemble earlier. The simplest of these protocols, the two-pulse photon echo, has been deemed too noisy to operate in the single-photon regime.\n\nIn this work we introduce and investigate the LiSPER protocol, which involves using off-resonant pulses to control the recall of the stored pulse from the ensemble. In the LiSPER protocol, two off-resonant pulses dynamically tune the resonant frequencies of the ions in the ensemble such that an unwanted noisy echo is suppressed and a less noisy echo of the input pulse is emitted at a later time. A theoretical basis for LiSPER is formed with analytical calculations and numerical simulations, and the dependence of the protocol efficiency on parameters of the off-resonant pulses is characterised. Also presented are the results of experiments performed using a praseodymium ion ensemble. These results agree qualitatively with the theoretical work, although the entire LiSPER protocol is not demonstrated.

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Recent progress with rare-earth-ion ensemble quantum memories has resulted in a family of echo-memory protocols which use sequences of pulsed light fields to recall a pulse stored in the ensemble earlier. The simplest of these protocols, the two-pulse photon echo, has been deemed too noisy to operate in the single-photon regime.\n\nIn this work we introduce and investigate the LiSPER protocol, which involves using off-resonant pulses to control the recall of the stored pulse from the ensemble. In the LiSPER protocol, two off-resonant pulses dynamically tune the resonant frequencies of the ions in the ensemble such that an unwanted noisy echo is suppressed and a less noisy echo of the input pulse is emitted at a later time. A theoretical basis for LiSPER is formed with analytical calculations and numerical simulations, and the dependence of the protocol efficiency on parameters of the off-resonant pulses is characterised. Also presented are the results of experiments performed using a praseodymium ion ensemble. These results agree qualitatively with the theoretical work, although the entire LiSPER protocol is not demonstrated.
Quantum memories for quantum communication need to be able to store photons for an extended time and then to release them on demand. This can be achieved in atomic frequency comb ensemble-based quantum memories by control pulses that transfer the excitation to and from long-lived spin states. However, such pulses can give rise to coherent and incoherent noise due to their interaction with the memory ensemble. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate the ability to switch off the coherent noise from such control pulses during the echo emission in a spin-wave quantum memory, using the linear Stark effect in rare-earth-ion doped crystals. By applying an electric-field pulse, the echo emission was coherently switched off prior to the first spin transfer pulse, and the stored data pulse was restored only when both an optical recall pulse and a rephasing electrical pulse were applied, giving a high degree of control of both desired and undesired emissions. We estimate the effectiveness of this technique by turning off the free-induction decay of a narrow ensemble of ions. This technique can thus improve the noise performance of spin-wave storage at the single-photon level by quenching coherent optical radiation created by strong control pulses. The method demonstrated here represents a proof of principle that the spin-wave storage scheme can be combined with Stark control. The combined scheme serves as an addition to the toolbox of techniques that can be used to realize a full version of a quantum repeater. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Quantum memories for optical and microwave photons provide key functionalities in quantum processing and communications. Here we propose a protocol well adapted to solid-state ensemble-based memories coupled to cavities. It is called Stark echo modulation memory (SEMM) and allows large storage bandwidths and low noise. This is achieved in an echo-like sequence combined with phase shifts induced by small electric fields through the linear Stark effect. We investigated the protocol for rare-earth nuclear spins and found a high suppression of unwanted collective emissions that is compatible with single-photon-level operation. Broadband storage together with high fidelity for the Stark retrieval process is also demonstrated. SEMM could be used to store optical or microwave photons in ions and/or spins. This includes nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and rare-earth-doped crystals, which are among the most promising solid-state quantum memories.
The three-pulse photon echo is a well-known technique to store intense light pulses in an inhomogeneously broadened atomic ensemble. This protocol is attractive because it is relatively simple and it is well suited for the storage of multiple temporal modes. Furthermore, it offers very long storage times, greater than the phase relaxation time. Here, we consider the three-pulse photon echo in both two- and three-level systems as a potential technique for the storage of light at the single-photon level. By explicit calculations, we show that the ratio between the echo signal corresponding to a single-photon input and the noise is smaller than one. This severely limits the achievable fidelity of the quantum state storage, making the three-pulse photon echo unsuitable for single-photon quantum memory.
We consider in this paper a two-pulse photon echo sequence in the prospect of quantum light storage. We analyze the conditions where quantum storage could be realistically performed. We simply and analytically calculate the efficiency in that limit, and clarify the role of the exactly $\ensuremath{\pi}$-rephasing pulse in the sequence. Our physical interpretation of the process is well supported by its experimental implementation in a Tm3+{\text{Tm}}^{3+}Tm3+:yttrium aluminum garnet crystal thanks to an accurate control of the rephasing pulse area. We finally address independently the fundamental limitations of the quantum fidelity. Our work allows us to point out on one side the real drawbacks of this scheme for quantum storage and on the other side its specificities which can be a source of inspiration to conceive more promising procedures with rare-earth ion doped crystals.
We present a simple quantum memory scheme that allows for the storage of a light field in an ensemble of two-level atoms. The technique is analogous to the NMR gradient echo for which the imprinting and recalling of the input field are performed by controlling a linearly varying broadening. Our protocol is perfectly efficient in the limit of high optical depths and the output pulse is emitted in the forward direction. We provide a numerical analysis of the protocol together with an experiment performed in a solid state system. In close agreement with our model, the experiment shows a total efficiency of up to 15%, and a recall efficiency of 26%. We suggest simple realizable improvements for the experiment to surpass the no-cloning limit.