Long-lived and high-fidelity memory for a photonic polarization qubit (PPQ) is crucial for constructing quantum networks. We present a millisecond storage system based on electromagnetically induced transparency, in which a moderate magnetic field is applied on a cold-atom cloud to lift Zeeman degeneracy and, thus, the PPQ states are stored as two magnetic-field-insensitive spin waves. Especially, the influence of magnetic-field-sensitive spin waves on the storage performances is almost totally avoided. The measured average fidelities of the polarization states are 98.6% at 200 μs and 78.4% at 4.5 ms, respectively.
Quantum memories are essential elements in long-distance quantum networks 1 and quantum computation 2 . Significant advances have been achieved in demonstrating relative long-lived single-channel memory at single-photon level in cold atomic media 3-6 . However, the qubit memory corresponding to store two-channel spin-wave excitations (SWEs) still faces challenges, including the limitations resulting from Larmor procession 7-8 , fluctuating ambient magnetic field 9-11 , and manipulation/measurement of the relative phase between the two channels 12-15 . Here, we demonstrate a two-channel memory scheme in an ideal tripod atomic system, in which the total readout signal exhibits either constructive or destructive interference when the two-channel SWEs are retrieved by two reading beams with a controllable relative phase. Experimental result indicates quantum coherence between the stored SWEs. Based on such phase-sensitive storage/retrieval scheme, measurements of the relative phase between the two SWEs and Rabi oscillation, as well as elimination of the collapse and revival of the readout signal, are experimentally demonstrated.
We experimentally demonstrate the manipulation of two-orthogonal components of a spin wave in an atomic ensemble. Based on Raman two-photon transition and Larmor spin precession induced by magnetic field pulses, the coherent rotations between the two components of the spin wave is controllably achieved.Successively, the two manipulated spin-wave components are mapped into two orthogonal polarized optical emissions, respectively. By measuring Ramsey fringes of the retrieved optical signals, the π/2-pulse fidelity of ~96% is obtained. The presented manipulation scheme can be used to build an arbitrary rotation for qubit operations in quantum information processing based on atomic ensembles.
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