Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

EPJ Web of Conferences

Using molecules as a quantum interface to store ultrashort optical vortices

E. Hertz, Alexis Voisine, Firas Trawi, Franck Billard, O. Faucher, Pierre Béjot

Published Jan 1, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We exploit gas-phase molecules as light-matter interface to store an orbital angular momentum (OAM) or a superposition of OAM states (OAM-based photonic qubits) carried by ultrashort laser pulses. The interplay between spin angular momentum and OAM is exploited to encode the amplitude and spatial phase information of light beams into rotational coherences of molecules. This last is restored on-demand over tens of picoseconds with a reading beam by taking advantage of field-free molecular alignment. The underlying mechanism at the origin of the storage can be interpreted by the spatial structuring of the molecular sample induced by the field. The excitation indeed produces an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of molecular alignment (amplitude & orientation) whose periodical revivals associated with the quantum beatings of the rotational wavepacket enables to restore the spatial beam structure on-demand. The strategy is successfully demonstrated in CO2 molecules at room temperature. Besides applicability as storage medium with THz bandwidth application, the use of molecules as light-matter interface opens new functionalities in terms of optical processing and versatile control of OAM fields.

DOI
10.1051/epjconf/202328711002

Related papers

Molecular Quantum Interface for Storing and Manipulating Ultrashort Optical Vortex

Firas Trawi, Franck Billard, O. Faucher +2 more

Abstract Light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have become over the past few years a subject of widespread interest with unprecedented applications in various fields such as optical communication, super‐resolution imaging, optical tweezers, or quantum processing. In the present work it is demonstrated that gas‐phase molecules can be used as a quantum interface to store an OAM carried by an ultrashort laser pulse. The interplay between spin angular momentum and OAM is exploited to encode the spatial phase information of light beams into rotational coherences of molecules. The embedded spatial structure is restored on‐demand with a reading beam by taking advantage of field‐free molecular alignment. The strategy is successfully demonstrated in CO2 molecules at room temperature. Apart from applications to broadband coherent buffer memory, this method opens new functionalities in terms of optical processing and versatile control of OAM fields as well as for a deeper understanding of their role on various molecular processes.

Laser & Photonics Review•Nov 18, 2022•8 citations

Holographic Storage of Ultrafast Photonic Qubit in Molecules

Alexis Voisine, Franck Billard, O. Faucher +2 more

Herein, it is demonstrated that ultrashort spatially structured beams can sculpt a sample of gas‐phase molecules like a 4D material to produce a spatial pattern of aligned molecules whose shape and temporal evolution allow to restore the spatial light information on a time‐delayed reading pulse. To do so, the spatial phase and amplitude information of ultrashort light beams are encoded into rotational coherences of molecules by exploiting the interplay between spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum. The field‐free molecular alignment resulting from the interaction leads to an inhomogeneous spatial structuring of the sample allowing to transfer the encoded information into a time‐delayed probe beam. The demonstration is conducted in molecules. Besides applications in terms of THz bandwidth buffer memory, the strategy features interesting prospects for establishing versatile optical processing of orbital angular momentum (OAM) fields, for studying various molecular processes, or for designing new photonic devices enabling to impart superpositions of OAM modes to light beams.

Advanced Photonics Research•Feb 9, 2024•4 citations

Holographic Storage of Ultrafast Photonic Qubit in Molecules

Alexis Voisine, Franck Billard, O. Faucher +2 more

Orbital Angular Momentum In article number 2400008, Edouard Hertz and co-workers show how ultrashort spatially structured beams can sculpt a sample of gas-phase molecules in three dimensions so as to produce a spatial pattern of aligned molecules whose shape and temporal evolution allow to restore the spatial light information on a time-delayed reading pulse. This property can be exploited to establish versatile optical processing of orbital angular momentum fields or to design new photonic devices.

Advanced Photonics Research•May 1, 2024•0 citations

Molecular Alignment Echo for Controlling the Readout Time of Vortex Beams

Alexis Voisine, Pierre Béjot, Franck Billard +2 more

We present an experimental study of molecular alignment echoes driven by ultrashort structured light fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). By combining two time-delayed pump pulses with spatially varying polarization, we produce a molecular "q plate" in a gaseous CO_{2} sample that can be rephased in a controllable manner. This approach enables the storage of OAM information within the rotational coherences of molecules and its retrieval at adjustable times. The concept is validated using vortex beams of various topological charges ℓ=±1, 2. These results extend the mechanism of molecular alignment echoes to vector light fields and establish a new route for optical processing of ultrashort OAM pulses, advancing molecular-based quantum interfaces for structured light.

Physical Review Letters•Dec 4, 2025•0 citations

Optical memory for arbitrary perfect Poincaré states in an atomic ensemble

Lei Zeng, Ying-Hao Ye, Ming‐Xin Dong +5 more

Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre-Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers | l |, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.

arXiv:2307.05008•Optics Letters•Dec 14, 2022•10 citations

Nonlinear optical memory for manipulation of orbital angular momentum of light

Rafael Alves De Oliveira, Gabriel C. Borba, Weliton Soares Martins +3 more

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.

Optics Letters•Oct 19, 2015•21 citations
We exploit gas-phase molecules as light-matter interface to store an orbital angular momentum (OAM) or a superposition of OAM states (OAM-based photonic qubits) carried by ultrashort laser pulses. The interplay between spin angular momentum and OAM is exploited to encode the amplitude and spatial phase information of light beams into rotational coherences of molecules. This last is restored on-demand over tens of picoseconds with a reading beam by taking advantage of field-free molecular alignment. The underlying mechanism at the origin of the storage can be interpreted by the spatial structuring of the molecular sample induced by the field. The excitation indeed produces an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of molecular alignment (amplitude & orientation) whose periodical revivals associated with the quantum beatings of the rotational wavepacket enables to restore the spatial beam structure on-demand. The strategy is successfully demonstrated in CO2 molecules at room temperature. Besides applicability as storage medium with THz bandwidth application, the use of molecules as light-matter interface opens new functionalities in terms of optical processing and versatile control of OAM fields.
Abstract Light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have become over the past few years a subject of widespread interest with unprecedented applications in various fields such as optical communication, super‐resolution imaging, optical tweezers, or quantum processing. In the present work it is demonstrated that gas‐phase molecules can be used as a quantum interface to store an OAM carried by an ultrashort laser pulse. The interplay between spin angular momentum and OAM is exploited to encode the spatial phase information of light beams into rotational coherences of molecules. The embedded spatial structure is restored on‐demand with a reading beam by taking advantage of field‐free molecular alignment. The strategy is successfully demonstrated in CO2 molecules at room temperature. Apart from applications to broadband coherent buffer memory, this method opens new functionalities in terms of optical processing and versatile control of OAM fields as well as for a deeper understanding of their role on various molecular processes.
Herein, it is demonstrated that ultrashort spatially structured beams can sculpt a sample of gas‐phase molecules like a 4D material to produce a spatial pattern of aligned molecules whose shape and temporal evolution allow to restore the spatial light information on a time‐delayed reading pulse. To do so, the spatial phase and amplitude information of ultrashort light beams are encoded into rotational coherences of molecules by exploiting the interplay between spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum. The field‐free molecular alignment resulting from the interaction leads to an inhomogeneous spatial structuring of the sample allowing to transfer the encoded information into a time‐delayed probe beam. The demonstration is conducted in molecules. Besides applications in terms of THz bandwidth buffer memory, the strategy features interesting prospects for establishing versatile optical processing of orbital angular momentum (OAM) fields, for studying various molecular processes, or for designing new photonic devices enabling to impart superpositions of OAM modes to light beams.
Orbital Angular Momentum In article number 2400008, Edouard Hertz and co-workers show how ultrashort spatially structured beams can sculpt a sample of gas-phase molecules in three dimensions so as to produce a spatial pattern of aligned molecules whose shape and temporal evolution allow to restore the spatial light information on a time-delayed reading pulse. This property can be exploited to establish versatile optical processing of orbital angular momentum fields or to design new photonic devices.
We present an experimental study of molecular alignment echoes driven by ultrashort structured light fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). By combining two time-delayed pump pulses with spatially varying polarization, we produce a molecular "q plate" in a gaseous CO_{2} sample that can be rephased in a controllable manner. This approach enables the storage of OAM information within the rotational coherences of molecules and its retrieval at adjustable times. The concept is validated using vortex beams of various topological charges ℓ=±1, 2. These results extend the mechanism of molecular alignment echoes to vector light fields and establish a new route for optical processing of ultrashort OAM pulses, advancing molecular-based quantum interfaces for structured light.
Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre-Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers | l |, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.
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.