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• Physics 16, s96
Researchers use two clouds of rubidium vapor to generate, retailer, and concurrently launch two photons.
O. Davidson/Weizmann Institute of Science
Researchers can readily coax a cloud of atoms to emit a single photon. However as a result of the photon emission course of is random, getting an atomic cloud to concurrently generate two or extra photons primarily requires ready for a coincidence. An alternate strategy includes storing one photon in a quantum reminiscence after which releasing it after a second photon is generated. Now Omri Davidson of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and his colleagues have improved that strategy, attaining unprecedented effectivity [1].
On the coronary heart of the Weizmann setup have been two clouds of rubidium vapor every trapped inside a easy glass cell at room temperature. Two lasers illuminated one of many clouds, prompting its atoms to emit pairs of photons at two carefully spaced wavelengths, 780 nm (termed the sign) and 776 nm (the loafer). Sign photons adopted paths that despatched them both to the second cloud, which served because the quantum reminiscence, or to the exit. Loafer photons adopted paths that triggered both the trapping of a sign photon within the quantum reminiscence or its launch. The discharge time of the saved photon was engineered such that the 2 photons exited the system concurrently.
The quantum reminiscence saved the photons with an end-to-end effectivity of 25%, enabling the synchronization of greater than 1000 photon pairs per second. The speed constitutes a 1000-fold enchancment over different schemes primarily based on atomic methods. A number of promising quantum applied sciences depend on the simultaneous emission of two or extra photons. Davidson says that the Weizmann group’s demonstration may carry these applied sciences nearer to implementation.
–Charles Day
Charles Day is a Senior Editor for Physics Journal.
References
- O. Davidson et al., “Single-photon synchronization with a room-temperature atomic quantum reminiscence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 033601 (2023).
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