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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Nonlinear optical memory: theory and experiment

Gabriel C. Borba, D. Felinto, J. W. R. Tabosa

Published Nov 13, 2017• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The present work explores new possibilities for the selective storage of optical information through higher-order nonlinearities in a sample of cold cesium atoms obtained from a magneto-optical trap. Particularly, we demonstrate the storage of a third-, fifth-, and seventh-order nonlinear atom–light interaction into the coherences and populations of the Zeeman structure of the hyperfine cesium 6S1/2, F=3 ground state. Two writing beams create coherence and population gratings associated with high-order nonlinear processes, which can be selectively retrieved by a reading beam after a controllable storage time. Each kind of grating can store only specific orders of the nonlinear interaction, leading to special features in each signal. Applications of this nonlinear memory to herald multiphotons are discussed.

DOI
10.1364/josab.34.002528

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The present work explores new possibilities for the selective storage of optical information through higher-order nonlinearities in a sample of cold cesium atoms obtained from a magneto-optical trap. Particularly, we demonstrate the storage of a third-, fifth-, and seventh-order nonlinear atom–light interaction into the coherences and populations of the Zeeman structure of the hyperfine cesium 6S1/2, F=3 ground state. Two writing beams create coherence and population gratings associated with high-order nonlinear processes, which can be selectively retrieved by a reading beam after a controllable storage time. Each kind of grating can store only specific orders of the nonlinear interaction, leading to special features in each signal. Applications of this nonlinear memory to herald multiphotons are discussed.
We report on the demonstration of a nonlinear optical memory (NOM) for storage and on-demand manipulation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light via higher-order nonlinear processes in cold cesium atoms. A spatially resolved phase-matching technique is used to select each order of the nonlinear susceptibility associated, respectively, with time-delayed four-, six-, and eight-wave mixing processes. For a specific configuration of the stored OAM of the incident beams, we demonstrated that the OAM of the retrieved beam can be manipulated according to the order of the nonlinear process chosen by the operator for reading out the NOM. This demonstration indicates new pathways for applications in classical and quantum information processing where OAM of light is used to encode optical information.
A reversible quantum memory allowing us to store and retrieve quantum information serves as a key necessity for implementing many of novel quantum information protocols. As light serves as a reliable long-range carrier of quantum information, and atoms offer the possibility of long storage times, current attempts at creating quantum memories focus on the transfer of the quantum fluctuations of light onto atomic coherences. The work in this thesis focuses on the development of a quantum memory for squeezed light using an ensemble of cold Cesium atoms stored in a magneto-optical trap. Our two major milestones were the development of a source of nonclassical light, and the development of a suitable atomic medium for storage. We first present the results of our efforts to generate a source of squeezed vacuum states resonant with the Cesium D2 line using a PPKTP nonlinear crystal inside of an optical parametric oscillator. Additionally, we characterize these squeezed states by carrying out a quantum state tomography using an iterative maximum likelihood approach. Next we look at the development of a new experiment which would allow us to use cold Cesium atoms as a storage medium in our recently developed magneto-optical trap. As this requires an array of novel tools and experimental techniques, we will discuss the development of these elements, and how they have furthered our progress towards storing quantum states onto our Cesium atoms, and eventually entangling two atomic ensembles.
We investigate the storage and the nonlinear coupling of two Zeeman coherence gratings in an ensemble of cold cesium atoms. This nonlinear coupling was revealed through the analysis of the total energy that can be extracted from the atomic medium as a function of the relative intensities of the grating writing beams, which presented a minimum when their intensities were made equal. A theoretical model using the density matrix formalism accounts quantitatively well for the observed results and allowed us to identify several channels in which energy can be delivered in the reading process.
In this paper, an optical memory based on an ensemble of cold Cesium atoms interacting with light in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) regime is studied in view of spatially multimode quantum storage. The interfacing protocol involves a control field, generating EIT for the very weak field that carries the quantum signal to be stored and enabling its mapping into the collective hyperfine coherence of the cold atomic ensemble. For the demonstration of multimode storage, the signal pulse at the single photon level is prepared in a mode with (OAM), while the control field is in a TEM00 mode. After the writing process, the information is kept in the memory register. In the retrieval phase, the information is read back from atoms to light and we show that these pulses at the single photon level with OAM can be stored and retrieved with a preserved spatial phase and a good efficiency.
We report on the storage of light via the phenomenon of coherent population oscillation (CPO) in an atomic cesium vapor at room temperature. In the experiment the optical information of a probe field is stored in the CPO of two ground states of a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ three-level system formed by the Zeeman sublevels of the hyperfine transition $F=3\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=2$ of the cesium D2{D}_{2}D2​ line. We show directly that this CPO-based memory is very insensitive to stray magnetic field inhomogeneities and presents a lifetime which is limited mainly by atomic motion. A theoretical simulation of the measured spectra was also developed and is in very good agreement with the experiment.
We present an experimental study of two optical quantum memory systems based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in cold cesium atoms.We explain the relevance of quantum memories for the development of large-scale quantum networks, we give a comprehensive theory of the EIT phenomenon and underline the role of relevant parameters regarding the implementation of quantum memories.The first system under study is prepared in a free-space magneto-optical trap. The main result of this thesis is the demonstration of the spatial multimode capability of this system at the quantum level. For this, we used Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) light beams, i.e. beams possessing a non-zero value of orbital angular momentum (OAM). In a first step, we showed that the orbital angular momentum of stored light pulses is preserved by the memory, deep in the single photon regime. In a second step, we encoded information in the orbital angular momentum state of a weak light pulse and defined a qubit using two LG beams of opposite helicities. We developed an original setup for the measurement of this OAM qubit and used it to characterize the action of the memory during the storage of such a light pulse. Our results show that the memory performs the quantum storage of such a qubit.The second system under study, also a cloud of cold atoms, has the specificity that the atoms are trapped optically in the vicinity of a nano-waveguide. This innovative design ensures a higher light-matter interaction and facilitates the interfacing of photons into and out of the memory. We describe the building of this setup and the first steps towards quantum memory implementations.