Benjamin Buchler

High efficiency coherent optical memory with warm rubidium vapour

By harnessing aspects of quantum mechanics, communication and information processing could be radically transformed. Promising forms of quantum information technology include optical quantum cryptographic systems and computing using photons for quantum logic operations. As with current information processing systems, some form of memory will be required. Quantum repeaters, which are required for long distance quantum key distribution, require quantum optical memory as do deterministic logic gates for optical quantum computing. Here, we present results from a coherent optical memory based on warm rubidium vapour and show 87% efficient recall of light pulses, the highest efficiency measured to date for any coherent optical memory suitable for quantum information applications. We also show storage and recall of up to 20 pulses from our system. These results show that simple warm atomic vapour systems have clear potential as a platform for quantum memory.

Experimental Demonstration of a Squeezing-Enhanced Power-Recycled Michelson Interferometer for Gravitational Wave Detection

Interferometric gravitational wave detectors are expected to be limited by shot noise at some frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate that a power recycled Michelson with squeezed light injected into the dark port can overcome this limit. An improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio of 2.3 dB is measured and locked stably for long periods of time. The configuration, control, and signal readout of our experiment are compatible with current gravitational wave detector designs. We consider the application of our system to long baseline interferometer designs such as LIGO.

Coherent optical pulse sequencer for quantum applications.

The bandwidth and versatility of optical devices have revolutionized information technology systems and communication networks. Precise and arbitrary control of an optical field that preserves optical coherence is an important requisite for many proposed photonic technologies. For quantum information applications, a device that allows storage and on-demand retrieval of arbitrary quantum states of light would form an ideal quantum optical memory. Recently, significant progress has been made in implementing atomic quantum memories using electromagnetically induced transparency, photon echo spectroscopy, off-resonance Raman spectroscopy and other atom–light interaction processes. Single-photon and bright-optical-field storage with quantum states have both been successfully demonstrated. Here we present a coherent optical memory based on photon echoes induced through controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening. Our scheme allows storage of multiple pulses of light within a chosen frequency bandwidth, and stored pulses can be recalled in arbitrary order with any chosen delay between each recalled pulse. Furthermore, pulses can be time-compressed, time-stretched or split into multiple smaller pulses and recalled in several pieces at chosen times. Although our experimental results are so far limited to classical light pulses, our technique should enable the construction of an optical random-access memory for time-bin quantum information, and have potential applications in quantum information processing.

Surpassing the Standard Quantum Limit for Optical Imaging Using Nonclassical Multimode Light

Using continuous wave superposition of spatial modes, we demonstrate experimentally displacement measurement of a light beam below the standard quantum limit. Multimode squeezed light is obtained by mixing a vacuum squeezed beam and a coherent beam that are spatially orthogonal. Although the resultant beam is not squeezed, it is shown to have strong internal spatial correlations. We show that the position of such a light beam can be measured using a split detector with an increased precision compared to a classical beam. This method can be used to improve the sensitivity of small displacement measurements.

Unconditional room-temperature quantum memory

Optical quantum memories—storage devices for the data encoded in light pulses—will be vital for buffering the flow of quantum information. Researchers now demonstrate such a device that can operate at room temperature. The quantum state is stored in a vapour of rubidium atoms and then recalled with a fidelity in excess of 98%.

Measuring the Quantum Efficiency of the Optical Emission of Single Radiating Dipoles Using a Scanning Mirror

Using scanning probe techniques, we show the controlled manipulation of the radiation from single dipoles. In one experiment we study the modification of the fluorescence lifetime of a single molecular dipole in front of a movable silver mirror. A second experiment demonstrates the changing plasmon spectrum of a gold nanoparticle in front of a dielectric mirror. Comparison of our data with theoretical models allows determination of the quantum efficiency of each radiating dipole.

Optimization and transfer of vacuum squeezing from an optical parametric oscillator

We report the observation of more than 7 dB of vacuum squeezing from a below-threshold optical parametric oscillator (OPO). We discuss design criteria and experimental considerations for its optimization and demonstrate that the vacuum squeezing can be electro-optically transferred to a bright beam using a feed-forward loop. This is compared with the bright intensity squeezed beam generated by running the OPO as a de-amplifier.

Photon echoes generated by reversing magnetic field gradients in a rubidium vapor

We propose a photon echo quantum memory scheme using detuned Raman coupling to long-lived ground states. In contrast to previous three-level schemes based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening that use sequences of pi pulses, the scheme does not require accurate control of the coupling dynamics to the ground states. We present a proof-of-principle experimental realization of our proposal using rubidium atoms in a warm vapor cell. The Raman resonance line is broadened using a magnetic field that varies linearly along the direction of light propagation. Inverting the magnetic field gradient rephases the atomic dipoles and re-emits the light pulse in the forward direction.

Balanced homodyne detection of optical quantum states at audio-band frequencies and below

The advent of stable, highly squeezed states of light has generated great interest in the gravitational wave community as a means for improving the quantum-noise-limited performance of advanced interferometric detectors. To confidently measure these squeezed states, it is first necessary to measure the shot-noise across the frequency band of interest. Technical noise, such as non-stationary events, beam pointing, and parasitic interference, can corrupt shot-noise measurements at low Fourier frequencies, below tens of kilo-hertz. In this paper we present a qualitative investigation into all of the relevant noise sources and the methods by which they can be identified and mitigated in order to achieve quantum noise limited balanced homodyne detection. Using these techniques, flat shot-noise down to Fourier frequencies below 0.5 Hz is produced. This enables the direct observation of large magnitudes of squeezing across the entire audio-band, of particular interest for ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. 11.6 dB of shot-noise suppression is directly observed, with more than 10 dB down to 10 Hz.

Near-field imaging and frequency tuning of a high-Q photonic crystal membrane microcavity.

We discuss experimental studies of the interaction between a nanoscopic object and a photonic crystal membrane resonator of quality factor Q=55000. By controlled actuation of a glass fiber tip in the near field of the photonic crystal, we constructed a complete spatio-spectral map of the resonator mode and its coupling with the fiber tip. On the one hand, our findings demonstrate that scanning probes can profoundly influence the optical characteristics and the near-field images of photonic devices. On the other hand, we show that the introduction of a nanoscopic object provides a low loss method for on-command tuning of a photonic crystal resonator frequency. Our results are in a very good agreement with the predictions of a combined numerical/analytical theory.