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Efficient quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits

Nature Photonics volume 13, pages 346–351 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

A quantum memory, for storing and retrieving flying photonic quantum states, is a key interface for realizing long-distance quantum communication and large-scale quantum computation. While many experimental schemes demonstrating high storage and retrieval efficiency have been performed with weak coherent light pulses, all quantum memories for true single photons achieved so far have efficiencies far below 50%, a threshold value for practical applications. Here, we report the demonstration of a quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits with an efficiency of >85% and a fidelity of >99%, based on balanced two-channel electromagnetically induced transparency in laser-cooled rubidium atoms. For the single-channel quantum memory, the optimized efficiency for storing and retrieving single-photon temporal waveforms can be as high as 90.6%. This result pushes the photonic quantum memory closer to practical applications in quantum information processing.

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Fig. 1: Experimental set-up and energy level scheme of the single-photon quantum memory.
Fig. 2: Characterization of the two balanced channels of the quantum memory.
Fig. 3: Quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits.
Fig. 4: The overall quantum memory performance.
Fig. 5: Optimal storage of a single-channel memory.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant numbers 2016YFA0301803 and 2016YFA0302800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 11474107, 61378012, 91636218, 11822403, 11804104, 11804105 and U1801661), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant numbers 2015TQ01X715, 2014A030306012 and 2018A0303130066). S.D. acknowledges the support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (project numbers 16304817 and C6005-17G) and the William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology (project number WMINST19SC05).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yunfei Wang, Jianfeng Li, Shanchao Zhang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Yunfei Wang, Jianfeng Li, Shanchao Zhang, Keyu Su, Yiru Zhou, Kaiyu Liao, Shengwang Du, Hui Yan & Shi-Liang Zhu

  2. Department of Physics & William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R., China

    Shengwang Du

  3. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Shi-Liang Zhu

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  1. Yunfei Wang
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Contributions

S.C.Z., S.D., H.Y. and S.-L.Z. designed the experiment. Y.F.W., J.F.L., S.C.Z., K.Y.S., Y.R.Z. and K.Y.L. carried out the experiments. Y.F.W., J.F.L., S.C.Z., K.Y.S. and H.Y. conducted the raw data analysis. S.C.Z., S.D., H.Y. and S.-L.Z. wrote the paper, and all authors discussed the content of the paper. H.Y. and S.-L.Z. supervised the project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hui Yan or Shi-Liang Zhu.

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Wang, Y., Li, J., Zhang, S. et al. Efficient quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits. Nat. Photonics 13, 346–351 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0368-8

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