Universal Approach to Optimal Photon Storage in Atomic Media

Journal Article · Fri Mar 23 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.98.123601· OSTI ID:20951123

Gorshkov, Alexey V; Andre, Axel; Lukin, Mikhail D ^[1]; Fleischhauer, Michael ^[2]; Soerensen, Anders S ^[3]

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1. Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
2. Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern, 67633 Kaiserslautern (Germany)
3. QUANTOP, Danish National Research Foundation Centre of Quantum Optics, Niels Bohr Institute, DK-2100 Copenhagen O (Denmark)

We present a universal physical picture for describing storage and retrieval of photon wave packets in a {lambda}-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.

• OSTI ID: 20951123
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 98; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
OPTIMAL CONTROL
PHOTONS
PULSES
VELOCITY
WAVE PACKETS