Controlled rephasing of single collective spin excitations in a cold atomic quantum memory

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates active control of inhomogeneous dephasing and rephasing of single collective spin excitations in a cold atomic quantum memory, enabling temporal multiplexing for quantum communication.

Contribution

It introduces a reversible magnetic field gradient to control dephasing, preserving single photon properties and enabling creation of time-separated spin-waves in a cold atom ensemble.

Findings

Active rephasing preserves single photon nature.

Control of dephasing enables temporal multiplexing.

Demonstrated creation of time-separated spin-waves.

Abstract

We demonstrate active control of inhomogeneous dephasing and rephasing for single collective atomic spin excitations (spin-waves) created by spontaneous Raman scattering in a quantum memory based on cold $^{87}$Rb atoms. The control is provided by a reversible external magnetic field gradient inducing an inhomogeneous broadening of the atomic hyperfine levels. We demonstrate experimentally that active rephasing preserves the single photon nature of the retrieved photons. Finally, we show that the control of the inhomogeneous dephasing enables the creation of time-separated spin-waves in a single ensemble, followed by a selective readout in time. This is an important step towards the implementation of a functional temporally multiplexed quantum repeater node.