Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Towards high-speed optical quantum memories

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 218–221 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Quantum memories, capable of controllably storing and releasing a photon, are a crucial component for quantum computers1 and quantum communications2. To date, quantum memories3,4,5,6 have operated with bandwidths that limit data rates to megahertz. Here we report the coherent storage and retrieval of sub-nanosecond low-intensity light pulses with spectral bandwidths exceeding 1 GHz in caesium vapour. The novel memory interaction takes place through a far off-resonant two-photon transition in which the memory bandwidth is dynamically generated by a strong control field7,8. This should allow data rates more than 100 times greater than those of existing quantum memories. The memory works with a total efficiency of 15%, and its coherence is demonstrated through direct interference of the stored and retrieved pulses. Coherence times in hot atomic vapours are on the order of microseconds9, the expected storage time limit for this memory.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Raman memory.
Figure 2: Experimental data for storage and retrieval processes.
Figure 3: Dependence of memory efficiency on write/read pulse energy.
Figure 4: Raw interference of stored and retrieved signals.
Figure 5: Experimental set-up.

References

  1. Kok, P. et al. Linear optical quantum computing with photonic qubits. Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 135–174 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Duan, L.-M., Lukin, M. D., Cirac, J. I. & Zoller, P. Long-distance quantum communication with atomic ensembles and linear optics. Nature 414, 413–418 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hetet, G., Longdell, J. J., Alexander, A. L., Lam, P. K. & Sellars, M. J. Electro-optic quantum memory for light using two-level atoms. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 023601 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. de Riedmatten, H., Afzelius, M., Staudt, M. U., Simon, C. & Gisin, N. A solid-state light–matter interface at the single-photon level. Nature 456, 773–777 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schnorrberger, U. et al. Electromagnetically induced transparency and light storage in an atomic Mott insulator. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 033003 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Boozer, A. D., Boca, A., Miller, R., Northup, T. E. & Kimble, H. J. Reversible state transfer between light and a single trapped atom. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 193601 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gorshkov, A. V., Andre, A., Lukin, M. D. & Sorensen, A. S. Photon storage in Lambda-type optically dense atomic media. II. Free-space model. Phys. Rev. A 76, 033805 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nunn, J. et al. Mapping broadband single-photon wave packets into an atomic memory. Phys. Rev. A 75, 011401 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Camacho, R. M., Vudyasetu, P. K. & Howell, J. C. Four-wave-mixing stopped light in hot atomic rubidium vapour. Nature Photon. 3, 103–106 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Shor, P. Polynomial-time algorithms for prime factorization and discrete logarithms on a quantum computer. SIAM Rev. 41, 303–332 (1999).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Simon, C. et al. Quantum repeaters with photon pair sources and multimode memories. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 190503 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Choi, K. S., Deng, H., Laurat, J. & Kimble, H. J. Mapping photonic entanglement into and out of a quantum memory. Nature 452, 67–71 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nunn, J. et al. Multimode memories in atomic ensembles. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 260502 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Chaneliere, T. et al. Storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories. Nature 438, 833–836 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Julsgaard, B., Sherson, J., Cirac, J. I., Fiurasek, J. & Polzik, E. S. Experimental demonstration of quantum memory for light. Nature 432, 482–486 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Eisaman, M. D. et al. Electromagnetically induced transparency with tunable single-photon pulses. Nature 438, 837–841 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Harris, S. E. Electromagnetically induced transparency. Physics Today 50, 36–42 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Liu, C., Dutton, Z., Behroozi, C. H. & Hau, L. V. Observation of coherent optical information storage in an atomic medium using halted light pulses. Nature 409, 490–493 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Alexander, A. L., Longdell, J. J., Sellars, M. J. & Manson, N. B. Photon echoes produced by switching electric fields. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 043602 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kraus, B. et al. Quantum memory for nonstationary light fields based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening. Phys. Rev. A 73, 020302 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Staudt, M. U. et al. Fidelity of an optical memory based on stimulated photon echoes. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 113601 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Afzelius, M., Simon, C., de Riedmatten, H. & Gisin, N. Multimode quantum memory based on atomic frequency combs. Phys. Rev. A 79, 052329 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhu, Z., Gauthier, D. & Boyd, R. Stored light in an optical fiber via stimulated Brillouin scattering. Science 318, 1748–1750 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Hosseini, M. et al. Coherent optical pulse sequencer for quantum applications. Nature 461, 241–245 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Novikova, I., Phillips, N. B. & Gorshkov, A. V. Optimal light storage with full pulse-shape control. Phys. Rev. A 78, 021802 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Longdell, J. J., Fraval, E., Sellars, M. J. & Manson, N. B. Stopped light with storage times greater than one second using electromagnetically induced transparency in a solid. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 063601 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kozhekin, A. E., Mølmer, K. & Polzik, E. Quantum memory for light. Phys. Rev. A 62, 033809 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Surmacz, K. et al. Efficient spatially resolved multimode quantum memory. Phys. Rev. A 78, 033806 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Collins, O. A., Jenkins, S. D., Kuzmich, A. & Kennedy, T. A. B. Multiplexed memory-insensitive quantum repeaters Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 060502 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Stacey, P. Walther and M.G. Raymer for useful discussions. This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK through the QIP IRC (Quantum Information Processing Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration: GR/S82716/01) and project EP/C51933/01. K.F.R. and V.O.L. were supported by the Marie-Curie-Network EMALI (Engineering, Manipulation and Characterization of Quantum States of Matter and Light). B.J.S. gratefully acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and from the Royal Society. I.A.W. was supported in part by the European Commission under the Integrated Project Qubit Applications (QAP) funded by the Information Society Technologies directorate as contract no. 015848, and the Royal Society.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

    K. F. Reim, J. Nunn, V. O. Lorenz, B. J. Sussman, K. C. Lee, N. K. Langford, D. Jaksch & I. A. Walmsley

  2. Department of Physics, University of Delaware, Newark, 19716, Delaware, USA

    V. O. Lorenz

  3. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, K1A 0R6, Ontario, Canada

    B. J. Sussman

Authors
  1. K. F. Reim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Nunn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. V. O. Lorenz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. B. J. Sussman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. K. C. Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. N. K. Langford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. D. Jaksch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. I. A. Walmsley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.F.R. built the experiment, with initial assistance from V.O.L., and collected the data. K.F.R., J.N. and B.J.S. contributed to the theoretical analysis. N.K.L. assisted with design and analysis of the coherence measurements. K.C.L., N.K.L. and D.J. added useful insights, and I.A.W. conceived the experiment. The manuscript was written by K.F.R. with input from B.J.S., J.N., N.K.L. and I.A.W.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. A. Walmsley.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reim, K., Nunn, J., Lorenz, V. et al. Towards high-speed optical quantum memories. Nature Photon 4, 218–221 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.30

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.30

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing