Reversible State Transfer between Light and a Single Trapped Atom

Boozer, A. D.; Boca, A.; Miller, Ryan; Northup, Tracy E.; Kimble, H. J.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.193601

Cited by 300 publications

(252 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…The first approach, proposed in 1997 by Cirac et al [11], exploits the strong coupling between an optical cavity and a single atom. This protocol has recently been implemented by Boozer et al [12] using a single caesium atom trapped inside a high-finesse cavity. Closely related investigations have been reported for other physical systems [13]; however, without allowing, or actually showing, reversibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photon‐echo quantum memory in solid state systems

Tittel¹,

Afzelius

Chanelière

et al. 2010

Laser & Photonics Reviews

418

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Many applications of quantum communication crucially depend on reversible transfer of quantum states between light and matter. Motivated by rapid recent developments in theory and experiment, we review research related to quantum memory based on a photon-echo approach in solid state material with emphasis on use in a quantum repeater. After introducing quantum communication, the quantum repeater concept, and properties of a quantum memory required to be useful in a quantum repeater, we describe the historical development from spin echoes, discovered in 1950, to photon-echo quantum memory. We present a simple theoretical description of the ideal protocol, and comment on the impact of a non-ideal realization on its quantum nature. We extensively discuss rare-earth-ion doped crystals and glasses as material candidates, elaborate on traditional photon-echo experiments as a test-bed for quantum state storage, and describe the current state-of-the-art of photon-echo quantum memory. Finally, we give a brief outlook on current research.The picture shows a Europium doped Y2SiO5 crystal surrounded by electrodes in the setup used for the first proof-of-principle demonstration of the novel, photon-echo based quantum memory protocol.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photon‐echo quantum memory in solid state systems

Tittel¹,

Afzelius

Chanelière

et al. 2010

Laser & Photonics Reviews

418

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“…The main challenge is the achievement of a quantum interface that would be able to transfer quantum states with hight fidelity. Several schemes have been proposed and experimentally implemented where a high fidelity transfer of quantum state was achieved based on the creation of a strong coupling between the systems [3][4][5][6]. In this limit, the time scale of the transfer process is much shorter than the time scale for dissipation in the system due to a coupling to an external environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atoms versus photons as carriers of quantum states

Bougouffa

Ficek

2013

Phys. Rev. A

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The problem of the complete transfer of quantum states and entanglement in a four-qubit system composed of two single-mode cavities and two two-level atoms is investigated. The transfer of single and double excitation states is discussed for two different coupling configurations between the qubits. In the first, the coupling is mediated by the atoms that simultaneously couple to the cavity modes. In the second configuration, each atom resides inside one of the cavities and the coupling between the cavities is mediated by the overlapping field modes. A proper choice of basis states makes it possible to identify states that could be completely transferred between themselves. Simple expressions are derived for the conditions for the complete transfer of quantum states and entanglement. These conditions impose severe constraints on the evolution of the system in the form of constants of motion. The constrains on the evolution of the system imply that not all states can evolve in time, and we find that the evolution of the entire system can be confined into that occurring among two states only. Detailed analysis show that in the case where the interaction is mediated by the atoms, only symmetric superposition states can be completely and reversibly transferred between the atoms and the cavity modes. In the case where the interaction is mediated by the overlapping field modes, both symmetric and antisymmetric superposition states can be completely transferred. We also show that the system is capable of generating purely photonic NOON states, but only if the coupling is mediated by the atoms, and demonstrate that the ability to generate the NOON states relies on perfect transfer of an entanglement from the atoms to the cavity modes.

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“…Other lossless single-photon shaping techniques may implement phase-frequency modulation [29] and dispersion compensation [30]. In a three-level atomic system (such as ectromagnetically induced transparency [6,31]) with an additional control laser field, a single photon with an arbitrary temporal profile can be captured efficiently by either a single atom strongly coupled inside an optical cavity [32,33] or an atomic ensemble at a high OD in free space [34,35].…”

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confidence: 99%

Coherent Control of Single-Photon Absorption and Reemission in a Two-Level Atomic Ensemble

et al. 2012

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We demonstrate coherent control of single-photon absorption and reemission in a two-level cold atomic ensemble. This is achieved by interfering the incident single-photon wave packet with the emission (or scattering) wave. For a photon with an exponential growth waveform with a time constant equal to the excited-state lifetime, we observe that the single-photon emission probability during the absorption can be suppressed due to the perfect destructive interference. After the incident photon waveform is switched off, the absorbed photon is then reemitted to the same spatial mode as that of the incident photon with an efficiency of 20%. For a photon with an exponential decay waveform with the same time constant, both the absorption and reemission occur within the waveform duration. Our experimental results suggest that the absorption and emission of a single photon in a two-level atomic ensemble may possibly be manipulated by shaping its waveform in the time domain. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.263601 PACS numbers: 42.50.Nn, 03.65.Ta, 32.80.Qk, 42.50.Ct Photon absorption and emission are two key probes to study the light-matter quantum interaction, which lays down the foundations for atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1][2][3]. When a coherent optical pulse propagates through a medium, the absorption and emission can coherently modify its spectral components and lead to many interesting and important optical phenomena, such as attenuation, amplification, distortion, and slow and fast light effects [4][5][6][7][8]. For a single photon, causality requires that the absorption and reemission follow the right time order: the reemission can only occur following the absorption. Although this quantum time order has been observed as the antibunching effect in resonance fluorescence measured by two-photon correlations [9,10], it is not controllable on demand in these experiments. When a single photon enters a two-level atomic medium, the absorption and emission usually both occur within the photon pulse duration. Recently, Scully et al. proposed a scheme for observing directed ''spontaneous'' emission excited by a single photon [11].In this Letter, we demonstrate coherent control of singlephoton absorption and reemission in a two-level cold atomic ensemble in free space by shaping the singlephoton waveform. Making use of the destructive interference between the emission (or scattering) and the incident photon wave packet, we show that the probability of reemitting the photon during the absorption can be completely suppressed when the incident photon has an exponential growth waveform with a time constant equal to the excitedstate lifetime. The reemission process only starts after the incident photon waveform is switched off and thus can be controlled on demand. This technique can be used to efficiently excite atoms with a given single atom. Our result may have potential applications in the quantum networks that require efficient conversion between flying single-photon states and local atomic states [12]. Figure 1 i...

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Reversible State Transfer between Light and a Single Trapped Atom

Cited by 300 publications

References 22 publications

Photon‐echo quantum memory in solid state systems

Photon‐echo quantum memory in solid state systems

Atoms versus photons as carriers of quantum states

Coherent Control of Single-Photon Absorption and Reemission in a Two-Level Atomic Ensemble

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