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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Simultaneous Trapping of Two Optical Pulses in an Atomic Ensemble as Stationary Light Pulses

U-Shin Kim, Yoon-Ho Kim

Published Jun 26, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counter-propagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. Here, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from$0.8\ \mu \mathsf{s}$to$2.0\ \mu \mathsf{s}$. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement, is$1.22\ \mu \mathsf{s}$, which corresponds to an effective Q-factor of$2.9\times 10^{9}$[1]. As our SLP system reports a large effective N-atom cooperativity of$8\times 10^{6}$, our work is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multi-mode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.

DOI
10.1109/cleo/europe-eqec57999.2023.10232105

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The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counter-propagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. Here, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from0.8 μs0.8\ \mu \mathsf{s}0.8 μsto2.0 μs2.0\ \mu \mathsf{s}2.0 μs. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement, is1.22 μs1.22\ \mu \mathsf{s}1.22 μs, which corresponds to an effective Q-factor of2.9×1092.9\times 10^{9}2.9×109[1]. As our SLP system reports a large effective N-atom cooperativity of8×1068\times 10^{6}8×106, our work is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multi-mode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.
The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counterpropagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. In this Letter, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from 0.8 to 2.0 μs. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement from the SLP trapping state, is 1.22 μs, which corresponds to an effective Q factor of 2.9×10^{9}. Our Letter is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multimode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.
Efficient photon–photon interaction is one of the key elements for realizing quantum information processing. The interaction, however, must often be mediated through an atomic medium due to the bosonic nature of photons, and the interaction time, which is critically linked to the efficiency, depends on the properties of the atom–photon interaction. While the electromagnetically induced transparency effect does offer the possibility of photonic quantum memory, it does not enhance the interaction time as it fully maps the photonic state to an atomic state. The stationary light pulse (SLP) effect, on the contrary, traps the photonic state inside an atomic medium with zero group velocity, opening up the possibility of enhanced interaction time. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of trapping a free-propagating single-photon into a cold atomic ensemble via the quantum SLP (QSLP) process. We conclusively show that the quantum properties of the single-photon state are preserved well during the QSLP process. Our work paves the way for new approaches for efficient photon–photon interactions, exotic photonic states, and many-body simulations in photonic systems.
We experimentally demonstrate coherent trapping of an arbitrary photonic polarization state as a stationary light pulse (SLP) within a cold 87 Rb atomic ensemble. The input polarization state is separated into two orthogonal polarization components, which are mapped onto two phase-matched path modes and simultaneously trapped as SLPs in a single cold atomic ensemble. After a programmed trapping duration, the two modes are released and recombined to reconstruct the polarization state. We evaluate state preservation of the released polarization state using state tomography, yielding an average fidelity of (98.7±1.1)% and an average release efficiency of (30±4)% for a trapping duration of 1.0 µs. By analyzing the release efficiency for trapping durations from 0.5 µs to 3.0 µs, we obtain an SLP lifetime of (1.34 ± 0.08) µs. These results elucidate the coherent trapping characteristics of arbitrary photonic polarization states in SLP systems, thereby contributing to the expansion of SLP-based applications in photonic quantum information processing.
We study the dynamic processes of reversible dual-channel light memory in a double-tripod atomic system by modulating only a pair of counterpropagating control fields in time. We find that two pairs of stationary light pulses (SLPs) can be simultaneously generated when we switch on both control fields after storage. Two incident signal fields in two channels can be released either simultaneously from the same surface of the sample, or at different times from the same or different surfaces of the sample, depending on the time modulation of the two control fields, the time sequence of the input signal fields, and the group velocities of the signal fields propagating in medium, which could be successfully manipulated in each channel. Comparing with the light storage in spin-wave excitations, the SLPs may suffer a little space-dependent diffusion but maintain optical components required for nonlinear optical interactions. These results could be used to study the enhanced low-noises nonlinear interaction between dual-channel SLPs, which can maximize the interaction time. Besides, this scheme could also be explored to design synchronous multitasking information processing during light memory processes at low-light even below single-photon level.
We study the creation of stationary light pulses (SLPs), i.e., light pulses without motion, based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency with two counterpropagating coupling fields in cold atoms. We show that the Raman excitations created by counterpropagating probe and coupling fields prohibit the formation of SLPs in media of cold and stationary atoms such as laser-cooled atom clouds, Bose condensates or color-center crystals. A method is experimentally demonstrated to suppress these Raman excitations and SLPs are realized in laser-cooled atoms. Furthermore, we report the first experimental observation of a bichromatic SLP at wavelengths for which no Bragg grating can be established. Our work advances the understanding of SLPs and opens a new avenue to SLP studies for few-photon nonlinear interactions.