Weak coherent pulses for single-photon quantum memories
arXiv:1807.01535 · doi:10.1088/1402-4896/aaee36
Abstract
Attenuated laser pulses are often employed in place for single photons in order to test the efficiency of the elements of a quantum network. In this work we analyse theoretically the dynamics of storage of an attenuated light pulse (where the pulse intensity is at the single photon level) propagating along a transmission line and impinging on the mirror of a high finesse cavity. Storage is realised by the controlled transfer of the photonic excitations into a metastable state of an atom confined inside the cavity and occurs via a Raman transition with a suitably tailored laser pulse, which drives the atom and minimizes reflection at the cavity mirror. We determine the storage efficiency of the weak coherent pulse which is reached by protocols optimized for single-photon storage. We determine the figures of merit and we identify the conditions on an arbitrary pulse for which the storage dynamics approaches the one of a single photon. Our formalism can be extended to arbitrary types of input pulses and to quantum memories composed by spin ensembles, and serves as a basis for identifying the optimal protocols for storage and readout.
arXiv comment9 pages, 3 figures
References in corpus (25)
- The Quantum Internet
- Quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution among distant nodes in a quantum network
- Quantum Communication
- Cavity-based quantum networks with single atoms and optical photons
- An Elementary Quantum Network of Single Atoms in Optical Cavities
- Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in physics, chemistry and beyond
- Quantum technologies with hybrid systems
- Storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories
- Mapping photonic entanglement into and out of a quantum memory
- A Single-Atom Quantum Memory
- Universal Approach to Optimal Photon Storage in Atomic Media
- Photon storage in Lambda-type optically dense atomic media. I. Cavity model
- Mapping multiple photonic qubits into and out of one solid-state atomic ensemble
- How to Trap Photons? Storing Single-Photon Quantum States in Collective Atomic Excitations
- Robustness of high-fidelity Rydberg gates with single-site addressability
- Decoherence-protected memory for a single-photon qubit
- Single-Photon Absorption in Coupled Atom-Cavity Systems
- What are single photons good for?
- Controlled insertion and retrieval of atoms coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator
- An integrated quantum repeater at telecom wavelength with single atoms in optical fiber cavities
- Experimental protocol for high-fidelity heralded photon-to-atom quantum state transfer
- Optimal storage of a single photon by a single intra-cavity atom
- Arbitrary quantum-state preparation of a harmonic oscillator via optimal control
- Quantum storage on subradiant states in an extended atomic ensemble
- Quantum memory for light using extended atomic ensembles in a tunable cavity