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A quantum memory with telecom-wavelength conversion

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 894–899 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

In a fibre-based quantum information network, telecom-wavelength transmission between quantum memory elements is required to minimize absorption. Owing to the paucity of suitable ground-state atomic transitions, a quantum memory interfaced with telecom light has not been previously realized. We report its demonstration by converting to telecom wavelength near-infrared light emitted on a ground-state transition. The conversion is achieved with a diamond configuration of atomic transitions, in an optically thick gas of cold rubidium. The quantum memory is also realized with cold rubidium, but confined in an optical lattice to suppress motional dephasing on a submillisecond timescale. We observe quantum memory lifetimes in excess of 0.1 s by laser compensation of the lattice light shifts that limited the previous generation of atomic memory to 7 ms. By measuring quantum correlations of light fields before and after telecom down-conversion, transmission and up-conversion, we demonstrate a basic memory element for a scalable, long-distance quantum network.

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Figure 1: Essential elements of the atomic quantum memory with a telecom-photon interface.
Figure 2: Frequency-conversion characteristics.
Figure 3: Frequency-conversion efficiency η and noise level of the up-conversion telecom single-photon detector as a function of the intensity II≡PI/πwI2 of pump I.
Figure 4: Illustration of the inhomogeneous differential Stark shift in optically trapped atoms and its compensation with two-photon transitions.
Figure 5: Retrieval efficiencies of classical light and single photons as a function of the storage period (T) for different trap depths (U0).

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. N. Matsukevich for his contributions, and J. Blumoff and A. Marchenkova for experimental assistance. This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

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Author notes

  1. A. G. Radnaev and Y. O. Dudin: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430, USA

    A. G. Radnaev, Y. O. Dudin, R. Zhao, H. H. Jen, S. D. Jenkins, A. Kuzmich & T. A. B. Kennedy

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  1. A. G. Radnaev
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  2. Y. O. Dudin
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  3. R. Zhao
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  7. T. A. B. Kennedy
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Contributions

A.G.R., Y.O.D. and R.Z. designed and carried out the experiments and analysed the data, S.D.J. and H.H.J. carried out theoretical analysis, S.D.J. and A.G.R. wrote the Supplementary Information and A.K. and T.A.B.K. supervised the project and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to T. A. B. Kennedy.

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Radnaev, A., Dudin, Y., Zhao, R. et al. A quantum memory with telecom-wavelength conversion. Nature Phys 6, 894–899 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1773

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