Single-photon-level optical storage in a solid-state spin-wave memory

A long-lived quantum memory is a firm requirement for implementing a quantum repeater scheme. Recent progress in solid-state rare-earth-ion-doped systems justifies their status as very strong candidates for such systems. Nonetheless an optical memory based on spin-wave storage at the single-photon-level has not been shown in such a system to date, which is crucial for achieving the long storage times required for quantum repeaters. In this letter we show that it is possible to execute a complete atomic frequency comb (AFC) scheme, including spin-wave storage, with weak coherent pulses of $\bar{n} = 2.5 \pm 0.6$ photons per pulse. We discuss in detail the experimental steps required to obtain this result and demonstrate the coherence of a stored time-bin pulse. We show a noise level of $(7.1 \pm 2.3)10^{-3}$ photons per mode during storage, this relatively low-noise level paves the way for future quantum optics experiments using spin-waves in rare-earth-doped crystals

Proposal for PS beam tests of a fast rich detector

A full scale prototype Fast RICH detector with pad readout for unambiguous imaging has been constructed for operation in a high luminosity environment. It uses the best photosensitive gas capable of fast response (TEA) or the intrinsically fast solid photocathode (CsI/TMAE), developed specifically for this purpose. It can be used at e+e- or hadron colliders as well as at fixed target facilities. It has time resolution of 20 ns with a 1.3 microsecond pipeline and parallel readout of 4000 pad sectors. Fast digital VLSI electronics has been developed for readout and 24000 channels have been tested. The prototype device (12000 pad channels) is assembled and ready for beam tests in 1993

Performance of a Pad Hybrid Photon Detector for Ring Imaging

Professionals of health still don't have at their disposal tools for managing the patient record, allowing them to reproduce all the practices they realised with paper medical reports. We focus our attention on one of these practices: annotations. Related to the work of [12], we adopt an original point of view about the documents with their annotations. Our aim is to show the interest of numerical annotations in such an application

An apparatus for the fabrication of large area hybrid photo-diodes

The paper describes a new facility for the fabrication of large area hybrid photodiodes which are intended to be used in the RICH detectors of the LHCb experiment. The facility, which is currently in the commissioning phase, has two main functions: processing of a photocathode in an external process, and subsequent encapsulation of the vacuum tube with a base plate on which the Si detector is pre- mounted. For the best protection of the photocathode and the Si detector a cold In sealing technique is being developed. (13 refs)

Performance of a 256-pad hybrid photon detector for ring imaging

We report a detailed experimental investigation of a proximity focused JiIPD with 256 pads of 4 x 4 mm2 for applications on RICH detectors. A signal to noise ratio of 16 is obtained for single photoelectrons with a low noise (ENC I 200 e) front-end electronics and 15.7 kV acceleration voltage. A single photoelectron detection efficiency of 95% is achieved with about 1% bias from electron back scattering

A multi-use cathode cell mwpc

Describes a highly flexible modular design for multiwire proportional chambers used in the CERN-NA3 experiment. The authors illustrate this flexibility by describing the transformation of one chamber into a cathode-cell shower detector and giving its performance as such