Optical Memory in a Microfabricated Rubidium Vapor Cell
Scalable quantum technology can appear hopelessly out of reach when we envision having to replicate room-sized experiments full of complex machines. In our latest memory experiments we flip the script by demonstrating optical storage in a microfabricated vapor cell. Our results yield prospects of mass produced and chip integrated quantum memories.
Check out our new publications demonstrating the viability of storing light in microfabricated vapor cells. Using a wafer scale cell mere millimeters thick pushes hot atomic memories closer to prospects of mass production than ever before. The compatibility of such cells with chip integration has already brought miniaturised atomic clocks and magnetometers into the hands of users. Now we can aspire to do the same with memories for photons, translating tabletop proof-of-principle experiments into functional and integrated tools to democratize the building blocks of quantum communication. Our results appeared in PRL. To achieve noise performance compatible with storing single photons, we implemented a memory scheme in a high magnetic field, high enough to put the atoms into the hyperfine Pashen-Back regime. We concurently wrote about the advantages of working in this regime in PRA. A popular summary of our work appeared in the uni news.