We propose a method that enables efficient storage and retrieval of a photonic excitation stored in an ensemble quantum memory consisting of Lambda-type absorbers with non-zero Stokes shift. We show that this can be used to implement a multimode quantum memory storing multiple frequency-encoded qubits in a single ensemble, and allowing their selective retrieval. The read-out scheme applies to memory setups based on both electromagnetically-induced transparency and stimulated Raman scattering, and spatially separates the output signal field from the control fields.
We propose a Raman quantum memory scheme that uses several atomic ensembles to store and retrieve the multimode highly entangled state of an optical quantum frequency comb, such as the one produced by parametric down-conversion of a pump frequency comb. We analyse the efficiency and the fidelity of such a quantum memory. Results show that our proposal may be helpful to multimode information processing using the different frequency bands of an optical frequency comb.
Quantum memory for flying optical qubits is a key enabler for a wide range of applications in quantum information science and technology. A critical figure of merit is the overall storage-and-retrieval efficiency. So far, despite the recent achievements of efficient memories for light pulses, the storage of qubits has suffered from limited efficiency. Here we report on a quantum memory for polarization qubits that combines an average conditional fidelity above 99% and an efficiency equal to (68$pm$ 2)%, thereby demonstrating a reversible qubit mapping where more information is retrieved than lost. The qubits are encoded with weak coherent states at the single-photon level and the memory is based on electromagnetically-induced transparency in an elongated laser-cooled ensemble of cesium atoms, spatially multiplexed for dual-rail storage. This implementation preserves high optical depth on both rails, without compromise between multiplexing and storage efficiency. Our work provides an efficient node for future tests of quantum network functionalities and advanced photonic circuits.
The operation of resistive and phase-change memory (RRAM and PCM) is controlled by highly localized self-heating effects, yet detailed studies of their temperature are rare due to challenges of nanoscale thermometry. Here we show that the combination of Raman thermometry and scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) can enable such measurements with high spatial resolution. We report temperature-dependent Raman spectra of HfO$_2$, TiO$_2$ and Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ (GST) films, and demonstrate direct measurements of temperature profiles in lateral PCM devices. Our measurements reveal that electrical and thermal interfaces dominate the operation of such devices, uncovering a thermal boundary resistance of 30 m$^2$K$^{-1}$GW$^{-1}$ at GST-SiO$_2$ interfaces and an effective thermopower 350 $mu$V/K at GST-Pt interfaces. We also discuss possible pathways to apply Raman thermometry and SThM techniques to nanoscale and vertical resistive memory devices.
The assumption of maximum parallelism support for the successful realization of scalable quantum computers has led to homogeneous, ``sea-of-qubits architectures. The resulting architectures overcome the primary challenges of reliability and scalability at the cost of physically unacceptable system area. We find that by exploiting the natural serialization at both the application and the physical microarchitecture level of a quantum computer, we can reduce the area requirement while improving performance. In particular we present a scalable quantum architecture design that employs specialization of the system into memory and computational regions, each individually optimized to match hardware support to the available parallelism. Through careful application and system analysis, we find that our new architecture can yield up to a factor of thirteen savings in area due to specialization. In addition, by providing a memory hierarchy design for quantum computers, we can increase time performance by a factor of eight. This result brings us closer to the realization of a quantum processor that can solve meaningful problems.
A growing body of work has established the modelling of stochastic processes as a promising area of application for quantum techologies; it has been shown that quantum models are able to replicate the future statistics of a stochastic process whilst retaining less information about the past than any classical model must -- even for a purely classical process. Such memory-efficient models open a potential future route to study complex systems in greater detail than ever before, and suggest profound consequences for our notions of structure in their dynamics. Yet, to date methods for constructing these quantum models are based on having a prior knowledge of the optimal classical model. Here, we introduce a protocol for blind inference of the memory structure of quantum models -- tailored to take advantage of quantum features -- direct from time-series data, in the process highlighting the robustness of their structure to noise. This in turn provides a way to construct memory-efficient quantum models of stochastic processes whilst circumventing certain drawbacks that manifest solely as a result of classical information processing in classical inference protocols.