No Arabic abstract
Spin echo techniques are essential for achieving long coherence times in solid-state quantum memories for light because of inhomogeneous broadening of the spin transitions. It has been suggested that unrealistic levels of precision for the radio frequency control pulses would be necessary for successful decoherence control at the quantum level. Here we study the effects of pulse imperfections in detail, using both a semi-classical and a fully quantum-mechanical approach. Our results show that high efficiencies and low noise-to-signal ratios can be achieved for the quantum memories in the single-photon regime for realistic levels of control pulse precision. We also analyze errors due to imperfect initial state preparation (optical pumping), showing that they are likely to be more important than control pulse errors in many practical circumstances. These results are crucial for future developments of solid-state quantum memories.
We probe dephasing mechanisms within a quantum network node consisting of a single nitrogen-vacancy centre electron spin that is hyperfine coupled to surrounding $^{13} text{C}$ nuclear-spin quantum memories. Previous studies have analysed memory dephasing caused by the stochastic electron-spin reset process, which is a component of optical internode entangling protocols. Here, we find, by using dynamical decoupling techniques and exploiting phase matching conditions in the electron-nuclear dynamics, that control infidelities and quasi-static noise are the major contributors to memory dephasing induced by the entangling sequence. These insights enable us to demonstrate a 19-fold improved memory performance which is still not limited by the electron reinitialization process. We further perform pump-probe studies to investigate the spin-flip channels during the optical electron spin reset. We find that spin-flips occur via decay from the meta-stable singlet states with a branching ratio of 8(1):1:1, in contrast with previous work. These results allow us to formulate straightforward improvements to diamond-based quantum networks and similar architectures.
Here we propose a solid-state quantum memory that does not require spectral holeburning, instead using strong rephasing pulses like traditional photon echo techniques. The memory uses external broadening fields to reduce the optical depth and so switch off the collective atom-light interaction when desired. The proposed memory should allow operation with reasonable efficiency in a much broader range of material systems, for instance Er3+ doped crystals which have a transition at 1.5 um. We present analytic theory supported by numerical calculations and initial experiments.
In this book chapter we review photon echo based schemes for optical quantum memory. We outline the basic principles of the Atomic Frequency Comb (AFC), Gradient Echo Memory (GEM) and Rephased Amplified Spontaneous Emission (RASE) protocols. We describe the properties of the rare-earth ion and gaseous vapours ensembles that have been used to carry out experimental demonstrations. These experiments are then discussed with reference to relevant classical and quantum performance criteria.
The construction of large-scale quantum networks relies on the development of practical quantum repeaters. Many approaches have been proposed with the goal of outperforming the direct transmission of photons, but most of them are inefficient or difficult to implement with current technology. Here, we present a protocol that uses a semi-hierarchical structure to improve the entanglement distribution rate while reducing the requirement of memory time to a range of tens of milliseconds. This protocol can be implemented with a fixed distance of elementary links and fixed requirements on quantum memories, which are independent of the total distance. This configuration is especially suitable for scalable applications in large-scale quantum networks.
We present a quantum multi-modal treatment describing Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) as a mechanism for storing continuous variable quantum information in light fields. Taking into account the atomic noise and decoherences of realistic experiments, we model numerically the propagation, storage, and readout of signals contained in the sideband amplitude and phase quadratures of a light pulse. An analytical treatment of the effects predicted by this more sophisticated model is then presented. Finally, we use quantum information benchmarks to examine the properties of the EIT-based memory and show the parameters needed to operate beyond the quantum limit.