Heralded quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits

TL;DR

This paper presents a scheme for a heralded quantum memory using a single atom in an optical cavity, enabling reliable storage, transfer, and entanglement of single-photon polarization qubits with success detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heralded quantum memory scheme that allows for quantum state storage and transfer with success indication using a single atom in an optical cavity.

Findings

Heralded quantum memory for polarization qubits demonstrated

Scheme enables quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution

Detection of operation success is feasible and practical

Abstract

We propose a scheme to implement a heralded quantum memory for single-photon polarization qubits with a single atom trapped in an optical cavity. In this scheme, an injected photon only exchanges quantum state with the atom, so that the heralded storage can be achieved by detecting the output photon. We also demonstrate that the scheme can be used for realizing the heralded quantum state transfer, exchange and entanglement distribution between distant nodes. The ability to detect whether the operation has succeeded or not is crucial for practical application.