Long-Time Bit Storage and Retrieval without Cold Atom Technology

Abstract

We report computer studies showing how the duration of memory for storage and retrieval of a classical bit can be increased to 100 times the decay time of an isolated atom, with no use of high-tech cold-atom preparations recently developed in the light-matter field. We suggest that our low-tech procedure can greatly enlarge the number of experimenters able to enter this field. The role of symmetry in this procedure arises in a careful interplay of incoherent and coherent excitations of a large collection of “two-level” atoms, the level separation being matched by the dominant frequency of the electromagnetic fields (short pulses and continuing field) applied to the system.