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Electric control of collective atomic coherence in an erbium-doped solid

Jiří Minář, Björn Lauritzen, Hugues de Riedmatten, Mikael Afzelius, Christoph Simon, Nicolas Gisin

Published Jan 1, 2009• 7 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We demonstrate the fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an erbium-doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient, thanks to the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay (FID)) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the atoms by the electric field result in collapses and revivals of the optical FID. Our results show that the use of external electric fields does not introduce any substantial decoherence and enables the manipulation of collective atomic coherence with a very high degree of precision on the timescale of tens of nanoseconds. This provides an interesting resource for photonic quantum state storage and quantum state manipulation.

Related papers

Electric control of collective atomic coherence in an erbium-doped solid

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We demonstrate fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an Erbium doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of Erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient and the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the atoms by the electric field result in collapses and revivals of the optical free induction decay. Our results show that the use of external electric fields does not introduce any substantial additional decoherence and enables the manipulation of collective atomic coherence with a very high degree of precision on the time scale of tens of ns. This provides an interesting resource for photonic quantum state storage and quantum state manipulation.

arXiv:0907.2344•New Journal of Physics•Nov 10, 2009•14 citations

Approaches for a quantum memory at telecommunication wavelengths

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We report experimental storage and retrieval of weak coherent states of light at telecommunication wavelengths using erbium ions doped into a solid. We use two photon-echo-based quantum storage protocols. The first one is based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening (CRIB). It allows the retrieval of the light on demand by controlling the collective atomic coherence with an external electric field, via the linear Stark effect. We study how atoms in the excited state affect the signal-to-noise ratio of the CRIB memory. Additionally we show how CRIB can be used to modify the temporal width of the retrieved light pulse. The second protocol is based on atomic frequency combs. Using this protocol we verify that the reversible mapping is phase preserving by performing an interference experiment with a local oscillator. These measurements are enabling steps toward solid-state quantum memories at telecommunication wavelengths. We also give an outlook on possible improvements.

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Byoung Seung HAM

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Photon Echoes Produced by Switching Electric Fields

A. L. Alexander, Jevon J. Longdell, Matthew J. Sellars +1 more

We demonstrate photon echoes in ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}\ensuremath{\mathbin:}{\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{SiO}}_{5}$ by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of the ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}\text{ }^{7}\mathrm{F}_{0}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}^{5}\mathrm{D}_{0}$ optical transition. This transition has a linear Stark shift, and we induce inhomogeneous broadening by applying an external electric field gradient. After optical excitation, reversing the polarity of the field rephases the ensemble, resulting in a photon echo. This is the first demonstration of such a photon echo, and its application as a quantum memory is discussed.

arXiv:quant-ph/0506232•Physical Review Letters•Feb 1, 2006•265 citations
We demonstrate the fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an erbium-doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient, thanks to the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay (FID)) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the atoms by the electric field result in collapses and revivals of the optical FID. Our results show that the use of external electric fields does not introduce any substantial decoherence and enables the manipulation of collective atomic coherence with a very high degree of precision on the timescale of tens of nanoseconds. This provides an interesting resource for photonic quantum state storage and quantum state manipulation.
We demonstrate fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an Erbium doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of Erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient and the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the atoms by the electric field result in collapses and revivals of the optical free induction decay. Our results show that the use of external electric fields does not introduce any substantial additional decoherence and enables the manipulation of collective atomic coherence with a very high degree of precision on the time scale of tens of ns. This provides an interesting resource for photonic quantum state storage and quantum state manipulation.
We report experimental storage and retrieval of weak coherent states of light at telecommunication wavelengths using erbium ions doped into a solid. We use two photon-echo-based quantum storage protocols. The first one is based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening (CRIB). It allows the retrieval of the light on demand by controlling the collective atomic coherence with an external electric field, via the linear Stark effect. We study how atoms in the excited state affect the signal-to-noise ratio of the CRIB memory. Additionally we show how CRIB can be used to modify the temporal width of the retrieved light pulse. The second protocol is based on atomic frequency combs. Using this protocol we verify that the reversible mapping is phase preserving by performing an interference experiment with a local oscillator. These measurements are enabling steps toward solid-state quantum memories at telecommunication wavelengths. We also give an outlook on possible improvements.
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
We demonstrate experimentally the storage and retrieval of weak coherent light fields at telecommunication wavelengths in a solid. Light pulses at the single photon level are stored for a time up to 600 ns in an erbium-doped Y2SiO5 crystal at 2.6 K and retrieved on demand. The memory is based on photon echoes with controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening, which is realized here for the first time at the single photon level. This is implemented with an external field gradient using the linear Stark effect. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of a solid-state quantum memory for single photons at telecommunication wavelengths, which would represent an important resource in quantum information science.
Using on-demand coherence conversion via optical locking, a dynamic coherent control of the collective atom phase has been demonstrated for longer photon storage beyond the critical constraint of spin phase decay time, where the storage time can be extended up to hours in a rare-earth-doped solid. Coherent transient phenomena such as photon echoes have been investigated for frozen phase decay via coherent population transfer using a simple deshelving optical pulse pair. Unlike the rephasing halt applied to two-pulse photon echoes, where optical decoherence is accelerated by spin inhomogeneous broadening, a completely atom phase-locked coherence conversion has been observed in three-pulse photon echoes, resulting in spin dephasing-free coherence control. Here, the mechanism of the atom phase-locked coherence conversion via optical locking has been investigated in a solid medium whose optical transition is imperfect, where partial coherence is lost via optical depth-dependent imperfect population transfer. The relationship between coherence loss and optical depth is analyzed, where nearly perfect photon echo efficiency can be obtained for ultralong photon storage in an optically thick medium.
We demonstrate photon echoes in ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}\ensuremath{\mathbin:}{\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{SiO}}_{5}$ by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of the ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}\text{ }^{7}\mathrm{F}_{0}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}^{5}\mathrm{D}_{0}$ optical transition. This transition has a linear Stark shift, and we induce inhomogeneous broadening by applying an external electric field gradient. After optical excitation, reversing the polarity of the field rephases the ensemble, resulting in a photon echo. This is the first demonstration of such a photon echo, and its application as a quantum memory is discussed.