90 research outputs found
Quantum Storage of Photonic Entanglement in a Crystal
Entanglement is the fundamental characteristic of quantum physics. Large
experimental efforts are devoted to harness entanglement between various
physical systems. In particular, entanglement between light and material
systems is interesting due to their prospective roles as "flying" and
stationary qubits in future quantum information technologies, such as quantum
repeaters and quantum networks. Here we report the first demonstration of
entanglement between a photon at telecommunication wavelength and a single
collective atomic excitation stored in a crystal. One photon from an
energy-time entangled pair is mapped onto a crystal and then released into a
well-defined spatial mode after a predetermined storage time. The other photon
is at telecommunication wavelength and is sent directly through a 50 m fiber
link to an analyzer. Successful transfer of entanglement to the crystal and
back is proven by a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH)
inequality by almost three standard deviations (S=2.64+/-0.23). These results
represent an important step towards quantum communication technologies based on
solid-state devices. In particular, our resources pave the way for building
efficient multiplexed quantum repeaters for long-distance quantum networks.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures + supplementary information; fixed typo in ref.
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Quantum memory for entangled two-mode squeezed states
A quantum memory for light is a key element for the realization of future
quantum information networks. Requirements for a good quantum memory are (i)
versatility (allowing a wide range of inputs) and (ii) true quantum coherence
(preserving quantum information). Here we demonstrate such a quantum memory for
states possessing Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement. These
multi-photon states are two-mode squeezed by 6.0 dB with a variable orientation
of squeezing and displaced by a few vacuum units. This range encompasses
typical input alphabets for a continuous variable quantum information protocol.
The memory consists of two cells, one for each mode, filled with cesium atoms
at room temperature with a memory time of about 1msec. The preservation of
quantum coherence is rigorously proven by showing that the experimental memory
fidelity 0.52(2) significantly exceeds the benchmark of 0.45 for the best
possible classical memory for a range of displacements.Comment: main text 5 pages, supplementary information 3 page
From Rotating Atomic Rings to Quantum Hall States
Considerable efforts are currently devoted to the preparation of ultracold
neutral atoms in the emblematic strongly correlated quantum Hall regime. The
routes followed so far essentially rely on thermodynamics, i.e. imposing the
proper Hamiltonian and cooling the system towards its ground state. In rapidly
rotating 2D harmonic traps the role of the transverse magnetic field is played
by the angular velocity. For particle numbers significantly larger than unity,
the required angular momentum is very large and it can be obtained only for
spinning frequencies extremely near to the deconfinement limit; consequently,
the required control on experimental parameters turns out to be far too
stringent. Here we propose to follow instead a dynamic path starting from the
gas confined in a rotating ring. The large moment of inertia of the fluid
facilitates the access to states with a large angular momentum, corresponding
to a giant vortex. The initial ring-shaped trapping potential is then
adiabatically transformed into a harmonic confinement, which brings the
interacting atomic gas in the desired quantum Hall regime. We provide clear
numerical evidence that for a relatively broad range of initial angular
frequencies, the giant vortex state is adiabatically connected to the bosonic
Laughlin state, and we discuss the scaling to many particles.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Mapping photonic entanglement into and out of a quantum memory
Recent developments of quantum information science critically rely on
entanglement, an intriguing aspect of quantum mechanics where parts of a
composite system can exhibit correlations stronger than any classical
counterpart. In particular, scalable quantum networks require capabilities to
create, store, and distribute entanglement among distant matter nodes via
photonic channels. Atomic ensembles can play the role of such nodes. So far, in
the photon counting regime, heralded entanglement between atomic ensembles has
been successfully demonstrated via probabilistic protocols. However, an
inherent drawback of this approach is the compromise between the amount of
entanglement and its preparation probability, leading intrinsically to low
count rate for high entanglement. Here we report a protocol where entanglement
between two atomic ensembles is created by coherent mapping of an entangled
state of light. By splitting a single-photon and subsequent state transfer, we
separate the generation of entanglement and its storage. After a programmable
delay, the stored entanglement is mapped back into photonic modes with overall
efficiency of 17 %. Improvements of single-photon sources together with our
protocol will enable "on demand" entanglement of atomic ensembles, a powerful
resource for quantum networking.Comment: 7 pages, and 3 figure
Light-cone-like spreading of correlations in a quantum many-body system
How fast can correlations spread in a quantum many-body system? Based on the
seminal work by Lieb and Robinson, it has recently been shown that several
interacting many-body systems exhibit an effective light cone that bounds the
propagation speed of correlations. The existence of such a "speed of light" has
profound implications for condensed matter physics and quantum information, but
has never been observed experimentally. Here we report on the time-resolved
detection of propagating correlations in an interacting quantum many-body
system. By quenching a one-dimensional quantum gas in an optical lattice, we
reveal how quasiparticle pairs transport correlations with a finite velocity
across the system, resulting in an effective light cone for the quantum
dynamics. Our results open important perspectives for understanding relaxation
of closed quantum systems far from equilibrium as well as for engineering
efficient quantum channels necessary for fast quantum computations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
Preparation of distilled and purified continuous variable entangled states
The distribution of entangled states of light over long distances is a major
challenge in the field of quantum information. Optical losses, phase diffusion
and mixing with thermal states lead to decoherence and destroy the
non-classical states after some finite transmission-line length. Quantum
repeater protocols, which combine quantum memory, entanglement distillation and
entanglement swapping, were proposed to overcome this problem. Here we report
on the experimental demonstration of entanglement distillation in the
continuous-variable regime. Entangled states were first disturbed by random
phase fluctuations and then distilled and purified using interference on beam
splitters and homodyne detection. Measurements of covariance matrices clearly
indicate a regained strength of entanglement and purity of the distilled
states. In contrast to previous demonstrations of entanglement distillation in
the complementary discrete-variable regime, our scheme achieved the actual
preparation of the distilled states, which might therefore be used to improve
the quality of downstream applications such as quantum teleportation
Topological orbital ladders
We unveil a topological phase of interacting fermions on a two-leg ladder of
unequal parity orbitals, derived from the experimentally realized double-well
lattices by dimension reduction. topological invariant originates simply
from the staggered phases of -orbital quantum tunneling, requiring none of
the previously known mechanisms such as spin-orbit coupling or artificial gauge
field. Another unique feature is that upon crossing over to two dimensions with
coupled ladders, the edge modes from each ladder form a parity-protected flat
band at zero energy, opening the route to strongly correlated states controlled
by interactions. Experimental signatures are found in density correlations and
phase transitions to trivial band and Mott insulators.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, Revised title, abstract, and the discussion on
Majorana numbe
Single-atom imaging of fermions in a quantum-gas microscope
Single-atom-resolved detection in optical lattices using quantum-gas
microscopes has enabled a new generation of experiments in the field of quantum
simulation. Fluorescence imaging of individual atoms has so far been achieved
for bosonic species with optical molasses cooling, whereas detection of
fermionic alkaline atoms in optical lattices by this method has proven more
challenging. Here we demonstrate single-site- and single-atom-resolved
fluorescence imaging of fermionic potassium-40 atoms in a quantum-gas
microscope setup using electromagnetically-induced-transparency cooling. We
detected on average 1000 fluorescence photons from a single atom within 1.5s,
while keeping it close to the vibrational ground state of the optical lattice.
Our results will enable the study of strongly correlated fermionic quantum
systems in optical lattices with resolution at the single-atom level, and give
access to observables such as the local entropy distribution and individual
defects in fermionic Mott insulators or anti-ferromagnetically ordered phases.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; Nature Physics, published online 13 July 201
Memory-built-in quantum teleportation with photonic and atomic qubits
The combination of quantum teleportation and quantum memory of photonic
qubits is essential for future implementations of large-scale quantum
communication and measurement-based quantum computation. Both steps have been
achieved separately in many proof-of-principle experiments, but the
demonstration of memory-built-in teleportation of photonic qubits remains an
experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate teleportation between photonic
(flying) and atomic (stationary) qubits. In our experiment, an unknown
polarization state of a single photon is teleported over 7 m onto a remote
atomic qubit that also serves as a quantum memory. The teleported state can be
stored and successfully read out for up to 8 micro-second. Besides being of
fundamental interest, teleportation between photonic and atomic qubits with the
direct inclusion of a readable quantum memory represents a step towards an
efficient and scalable quantum network.Comment: 19 pages 3 figures 1 tabl
A surface-patterned chip as a strong source of ultracold atoms for quantum technologies
Laser-cooled atoms are central to modern precision measurements. They are also increasingly important as an enabling technology for experimental cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum information processing and matter–wave interferometry. Although significant progress has been made in miniaturizing atomic metrological devices, these are limited in accuracy by their use of hot atomic ensembles and buffer gases. Advances have also been made in producing portable apparatus that benefits from the advantages of atoms in the microkelvin regime. However, simplifying atomic cooling and loading using microfabrication technology has proved difficult. In this Letter we address this problem, realizing an atom chip that enables the integration of laser cooling and trapping into a compact apparatus. Our source delivers ten thousand times more atoms than previous magneto-optical traps with microfabricated optics and, for the first time, can reach sub-Doppler temperatures. Moreover, the same chip design offers a simple way to form stable optical lattices. These features, combined with simplicity of fabrication and ease of operation, make these new traps a key advance in the development of cold-atom technology for high-accuracy, portable measurement devices
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