An efficient quantum memory based on two-level atoms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a highly efficient quantum memory protocol using two-level atomic ensembles and controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening, achieving near-perfect storage efficiency without optical control fields.

Contribution

It presents a novel CRIB-based quantum memory method that stores light efficiently with minimal broadening duration, improving upon previous approaches.

Findings

Achieves near 100% storage efficiency at high optical depth.

Stores specific light modes with minimal loss.

Operates without optical control fields.

Abstract

We propose a method to implement a quantum memory for light based on ensembles of two-level atoms. Our protocol is based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening (CRIB), where an external field first dephases the atomic polarization and thereby stores an incoming light pulse into collective states of the atomic ensemble, and later a reversal of the applied field leads to a rephasing of the atomic polarization and a reemission of the light. As opposed to previous proposals for CRIB based quantum memories we propose to only apply the broadening for a short period after most of the pulse has already been absorbed by the ensemble. We show that with this procedure there exist certain modes of the incoming light field which can be stored with an efficiency approaching 100% in the limit of high optical depth and long coherence time of the atoms. These results demonstrate that it is possible to operate an efficient quantum memory without any optical control fields.