[en] The recent observation of coherent backscattering (CBS) of light by atoms has emphasized the key role of the velocity spread and of the quantum internal structure of the atoms. Firstly, using highly resonant scatterers imposes very low temperatures of the disordered medium in order to keep the full contrast of the CBS interference. This criterion is usually achieved with standard laser cooling techniques. Secondly, a non-trivial internal atomic structure leads to a dramatic decrease of the CBS contrast. Experiments with rubidium atoms (with a non-trivial internal structure) and with Strontium (with the simplest possible internal structure) show this behaviour and confirm theoretical calculations

[en] We propose a protocol for storage and retrieval of photon wave packets in a Λ-type atomic medium. This protocol derives from spectral hole burning and takes advantages of the specific properties of solid-state systems at low temperature, such as rare-earth ion-doped crystals. The signal pulse is tuned to the center of the hole that has been burnt previously within the inhomogeneously broadened absorption band. The group velocity is strongly reduced, being proportional to the hole width. This way the optically carried information and energy are carried over to the off-resonance optical dipoles. Storage and retrieval are performed by conversion to and from ground-state Raman coherence by using brief π pulses. The protocol exhibits some resemblance with the well-known electromagnetically induced transparency process. It also presents distinctive features such as the absence of coupling beam. In this paper we detail the various steps of the protocol, summarize the critical parameters, and theoretically examine the recovery efficiency.

[en] We study the efficiency of the atomic frequency comb storage protocol. We show that for a given optical depth, the preparation procedure can be optimize to significantly improve the retrieval. Our prediction is well supported by the experimental implementation of the protocol in a Tm³⁺:YAG crystal. We observe a net gain in efficiency from 10 to 17% by applying the optimized preparation procedure. In the perspective of high bandwidth storage, we investigate the protocol under different magnetic fields. We analyze the effect of the Zeeman and superhyperfine interaction.

[en] We investigate the dynamics of dark-state polaritons in an atomic ensemble with ground-state degeneracy. A signal light pulse may be stored and retrieved from the atomic sample by adiabatic variation of the amplitude of a control field. During the storage process, a magnetic field causes rotation of the atomic hyperfine coherences, leading to collapses and revivals of the dark-state polariton number. These collapses and revivals should be observable in measurements of the retrieved signal field, as a function of storage time and magnetic field orientation

[en] We investigate the minimal conditions to store coherently a RF pulse in a material medium. We choose a commercial quartz as a memory support because it is a widely available component with a high Q-factor. Pulse storage is obtained by varying dynamically the light–matter coupling with an analog switch. This parametric driving of the quartz dynamics can be alternatively interpreted as a stopped-light experiment. We obtain an efficiency of 26%, a storage time of 209 μs and a time-to-bandwidth product of 98 by optimizing the pulse temporal shape. The coherent character of the storage is demonstrated. Our goal is to connect different types of memories in the RF and optical domain for quantum information processing. Our motivation is essentially fundamental. (paper)

[en] We experimentally demonstrate the storage of 1060 temporal modes onto a thulium-doped crystal using an atomic frequency comb (AFC). The comb covers 0.93 GHz defining the storage bandwidth. As compared to previous AFC preparation methods (pulse sequences, i.e. amplitude modulation), we only use frequency modulation to produce the desired optical pumping spectrum. To ensure an accurate spectrally selective optical pumping, the frequency-modulated laser is self-locked on the atomic comb. Our approach is general and should be applicable to a wide range of rare-earth-doped materials in the context of multimode quantum memory.

[en] Based on the similarity of paraxial diffraction and dispersion mathematical descriptions, the temporal imaging of optical pulses combines linear dispersive filters and quadratic phase modulations operating as time lenses. We consider programming a dispersive filter near atomic resonance in rare earth ion-doped crystals, which leads to unprecedented high values of dispersive power. This filter is used in an approximate imaging scheme, combining a single time lens and a single dispersive section and operating as a time-reversing device, with potential applications in radio-frequency signal processing. This scheme is closely related to a three-pulse photon echo with chirped pulses, but the connection with temporal imaging and dispersive filtering emphasizes new features. (paper)

[en] We report on the experimental demonstration of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in a Tm³⁺:YAG crystal. Tm³⁺:YAG is a promising material for use in quantum information processing applications, but as yet there are few experimental investigations of coherent Raman processes in this material. We investigate the effect of inhomogeneous broadening and Rabi frequency on the transfer efficiency and the width of the two-photon spectrum. Simulations of the complete Tm³⁺:YAG system are presented along with the corresponding experimental results

[en] We propose an original quantum memory protocol. It belongs to the class of rephasing processes and is closely related to two-pulse photon echo. It is known that the strong population inversion produced by the rephasing pulse prevents the plain two-pulse photon echo from serving as a quantum memory scheme. Indeed, gain and spontaneous emission generate prohibitive noise. A second π-pulse can be used to simultaneously reverse the atomic phase and bring the atoms back into the ground state. Then a secondary echo is radiated from a non-inverted medium, avoiding contamination by gain and spontaneous emission noise. However, one must kill the primary echo, in order to preserve all the information for the secondary signal. In the present work, spatial phase mismatching is used to silence the standard two-pulse echo. An experimental demonstration is presented.

[en] To store and retrieve signals at the single photon level, various photon echo schemes have resorted to complex preparation steps involving ancillary shelving states in multi-level atoms. For the first time, we experimentally demonstrate photon echo operation at such a low signal intensity without any preparation step, which allows us to work with mere two-level atoms. This simplified approach relies on the so-coined ‘revival of silenced echo’ (ROSE) scheme. Low noise conditions are obtained by returning the atoms to the ground state before the echo emission. In the present paper we manage ROSE in photon counting conditions, showing that very strong control fields can be compatible with extremely weak signals, making ROSE consistent with quantum memory requirements. (paper)