Universal Approach to Optimal Photon Storage in Atomic Media

Alexey V. Gorshkov, Axel André, Michael Fleischhauer, Anders S. Sørensen, and Mikhail D. Lukin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 123601 – Published 19 March 2007

Abstract

We present a universal physical picture for describing storage and retrieval of photon wave packets in a Λ-type atomic medium. This physical picture encompasses a variety of different approaches to pulse storage ranging from adiabatic reduction of the photon group velocity and pulse-propagation control via off-resonant Raman fields to photon-echo-based techniques. Furthermore, we derive an optimal control strategy for storage and retrieval of a photon wave packet of any given shape. All these approaches, when optimized, yield identical maximum efficiencies, which only depend on the optical depth of the medium.

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  • Received 6 April 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.123601

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Alexey V. Gorshkov1, Axel André1, Michael Fleischhauer2, Anders S. Sørensen3, and Mikhail D. Lukin1

  • 1Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 2Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67633 Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • 3QUANTOP, Danish National Research Foundation Centre of Quantum Optics, Niels Bohr Institute, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 12 — 23 March 2007

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