Towards scalable photonics via quantum storage

J. Nunn; N. K. Langford; W. S. Kolthammer; T. F. M. Champion; M. R. Sprague; P. S. Michelberger; X.-M. Jin; D. G. England; I. A. Walmsley

doi:10.1117/12.2012487

6 March 2013 Towards scalable photonics via quantum storage

J. Nunn, N. K. Langford, W. S. Kolthammer, T. F. M. Champion, M. R. Sprague, P. S. Michelberger, X.-M. Jin, D. G. England, I. A. Walmsley

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8636, Advances in Slow and Fast Light VI; 863612 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2012487
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Single photons are a vital resource for optical quantum information processing. Efficient and deterministic single photon sources do not yet exist, however. To date, experimental demonstrations of quantum processing primitives have been implemented using non-deterministic sources combined with heralding and/or postselection. Unfortunately, even for eight photons, the data rates are already so low as to make most experiments impracticable. It is well known that quantum memories, capable of storing photons until they are needed, are a potential solution to this `scaling catastrophe'. Here, we analyze in detail the benefits of quantum memories for producing multiphoton states, showing how the production rates can be enhanced by many orders of magnitude. We identify the quantity $eta B$ as the most important figure of merit in this connection, where $eta$ and $B$ are the efficiency and time-bandwidth product of the memories, respectively. We go on to review our progress in implementing the most broadband memory to date, with $B<1000$, in room-temperature cesium vapour. We consider the noise properties for single photon storage and the integration of the memory using waveguides.

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J. Nunn, N. K. Langford, W. S. Kolthammer, T. F. M. Champion, M. R. Sprague, P. S. Michelberger, X.-M. Jin, D. G. England, and I. A. Walmsley "Towards scalable photonics via quantum storage", Proc. SPIE 8636, Advances in Slow and Fast Light VI, 863612 (6 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2012487

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