Efficient cavity-assisted storage of photonic qubits in a solid-state quantum memory

Abstract

We report on the high-efficiency storage and retrieval of weak coherent optical pulses and photonic qubits in a cavity-enhanced solid-state quantum memory. By using an atomic frequency comb (AFC) memory in a Pr3+:Y2SiO5  crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity, we stored weak coherent pulses at the single photon level with up to 62% efficiency for a pre-determined storage time of 2 µs. We also confirmed that the impedance-matched cavity enhances the efficiency for longer storage times up to 70 µs. Harnessing the temporal multimodality of the AFC scheme, we stored weak coherent time-bin qubits with a record (51 ± 2%) efficiency and a fidelity over (94.8 ± 1.4)%, limited by imperfections in the qubits creation and measurement.