Light pulse storage in Pr:YSO crystal based on the revival of silenced echo protocol

Abstract

We report on the light pulse storage in Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal based on the revival of silenced echo protocol, which has the advantage of being immune from the spontaneous emission noise. We optimized the echo retrieval efficiency of the light pulse by employing complex hyperbolic secant rephasing pulses and by finely tuning the optical depth in the inhomogeneous broadening of the crystal. An echo retrieval efficiency of 24.4% was demonstrated, and an optical coherence time of 34.6 μs was extracted from the measured decay dynamics of the echo retrieval efficiency at a cryogenic temperature of 3.4 K. These results could be useful for potential applications in quantum memory and related applications.