Quantum memory is a central component for quantum information processing
devices, and will be required to provide high-fidelity storage of arbitrary
states, long storage times and small access latencies. Despite growing interest
in applying physical-layer error-suppression strategies to boost fidelities, it
has not previously been possible to meet such competing demands with a single
approach. Here we use an experimentally validated theoretical framework to
identify periodic repetition of a high-order dynamical decoupling sequence as a
systematic strategy to meet these challenges. We provide analytic
bounds-validated by numerical calculations-on the characteristics of the
relevant control sequences and show that a "stroboscopic saturation" of
coherence, or coherence plateau, can be engineered, even in the presence of
experimental imperfection. This permits high-fidelity storage for times that
can be exceptionally long, meaning that our device-independent results should
prove instrumental in producing practically useful quantum technologies.Comment: abstract and authors list fixe
