The ability to store multiple optical modes in a quantum memory allows for increased efficiency of quantum communication and computation. Here we compute the multimode capacity of a variety of quantum memory protocols based on light storage in ensembles of atoms. We find that adding a controlled inhomogeneous broadening improves this capacity significantly.
Quantum theoretical treatment of coherent forward scattering of light in a polarized atomic ensemble with an arbitrary angular momentum is developed. We consider coherent forward scattering of a weak radiation field interacting with a realistic multi
-level atomic transition. Based on the concept of an effective Hamiltonian and on the Heisenberg formalism, we discuss the coupled dynamics of the quantum fluctuations of the polarization Stokes components of propagating light and of the collective spin fluctuations of the scattering atoms. We show that in the process of coherent forward scattering this dynamics can be described in terms of a polariton-type spin wave created in the atomic sample. Our work presents a general example of entangling process in the system of collective quantum states of light and atomic angular momenta, previously considered only for the case of spin-1/2 atoms. We use the developed general formalism to test the applicability of spin-1/2 approximation for modelling the quantum non-demolishing measurement of atoms with a higher angular momentum.
We consider the coherent stimulated Raman process developing in an optically dense and disordered atomic medium in application to the quantum memory scheme. Our theoretical model predicts that the hyperfine interaction in the excited state of alkali
atoms can positively affect on the quantum memory efficiency. Based on the concept of the coherent information transfer we analyze and compare the memory requirements for storage of single photon and macroscopic multi-photon light pulses.
Entanglement measures quantify nonclassical correlations present in a quantum system, but can be extremely difficult to calculate, even more so, when information on its state is limited. Here, we consider broad families of entanglement criteria that
are based on variances of arbitrary operators and analytically derive the lower bounds these criteria provide for two relevant entanglement measures: the best separable approximation (BSA) and the generalized robustness (GR). This yields a practical method for quantifying entanglement in realistic experimental situations, in particular, when only few measurements of simple observables are available. As a concrete application of this method, we quantify bipartite and multipartite entanglement in spin-squeezed Bose-Einstein condensates of $sim 500$ atoms, by lower bounding the BSA and the GR only from measurements of first and second moments of the collective spin operator.
Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior called topological order which is characterized by non-local correlations that depend on the system topology. Such systems can exhibit remarkable phenomena such as quasi-particles with a
nyonic statistics and have been proposed as candidates for naturally fault-tolerant quantum computation. Despite these remarkable properties, anyons have never been observed in nature directly. Here we describe how to unambiguously detect and characterize such states in recently proposed spin lattice realizations using ultra-cold atoms or molecules trapped in an optical lattice. We propose an experimentally feasible technique to access non-local degrees of freedom by performing global operations on trapped spins mediated by an optical cavity mode. We show how to reliably read and write topologically protected quantum memory using an atomic or photonic qubit. Furthermore, our technique can be used to probe statistics and dynamics of anyonic excitations.
The resonant interaction between two two-level atoms and m- electromagnetic modes in a cavity is considered. Entanglement dynamics between two atoms is examined. In particular we compare dynamical variations for different cavity modes as well as for
different cavity photon numbers. The collapse and revival of entanglement is exhibited by varying the atom-photon interaction times.