A long-lived quantum memory is a firm requirement for implementing a quantum repeater scheme. Recent progress in solid-state rare-earth-ion-doped systems justifies their status as very strong candidates for such systems. Nonetheless an optical memory
based on spin-wave storage at the single-photon-level has not been shown in such a system to date, which is crucial for achieving the long storage times required for quantum repeaters. In this letter we show that it is possible to execute a complete atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme, including spin-wave storage, with weak coherent pulses of $bar{n} = 2.5 pm 0.6$ photons per pulse. We discuss in detail the experimental steps required to obtain this result and demonstrate the coherence of a stored time-bin pulse. We show a noise level of $(7.1 pm 2.3)10^{-3}$ photons per mode during storage, this relatively low-noise level paves the way for future quantum optics experiments using spin-waves in rare-earth-doped crystals.
153Eu3+:Y2SiO5 is a very attractive candidate for a long lived, multimode quantum memory due to the long spin coherence time (~15 ms), the relatively large hyperfine splitting (100 MHz) and the narrow optical homogeneous linewidth (~100 Hz). Here we
show an atomic frequency comb memory with spin wave storage in a promising material 153Eu3+:Y2SiO5, reaching storage times slightly beyond 10 {mu}s. We analyze the efficiency of the storage process and discuss ways of improving it. We also measure the inhomogeneous spin linewidth of 153Eu3+:Y2SiO5, which we find to be 69 pm 3 kHz. These results represent a further step towards realising a long lived multi mode solid state quantum memory.
Trapped atomic ions have been successfully used for demonstrating basic elements of universal quantum information processing (QIP). Nevertheless, scaling up of these methods and techniques to achieve large scale universal QIP, or more specialized qua
ntum simulations remains challenging. The use of easily controllable and stable microwave sources instead of complex laser systems on the other hand promises to remove obstacles to scalability. Important remaining drawbacks in this approach are the use of magnetic field sensitive states, which shorten coherence times considerably, and the requirement to create large stable magnetic field gradients. Here, we present theoretically a novel approach based on dressing magnetic field sensitive states with microwave fields which addresses both issues and permits fast quantum logic. We experimentally demonstrate basic building blocks of this scheme to show that these dressed states are long-lived and coherence times are increased by more than two orders of magnitude compared to bare magnetic field sensitive states. This changes decisively the prospect of microwave-driven ion trap QIP and offers a new route to extend coherence times for all systems that suffer from magnetic noise such as neutral atoms, NV-centres, quantum dots, or circuit-QED systems.
Individual electrodynamically trapped and laser cooled ions are addressed in frequency space using radio-frequency radiation in the presence of a static magnetic field gradient. In addition, an interaction between motional and spin states induced by
an rf field is demonstrated employing rf-optical double resonance spectroscopy. These are two essential experimental steps towards realizing a novel concept for implementing quantum simulations and quantum computing with trapped ions.
