Long-Lived Telecom-Heralded Single-Photon Storage in an Absorptive Spin-Rephased Quantum Memory
Abstract
Long-lived storage of single photons under the form of atomic excitations is at the foundation of long-distance entanglement distribution in quantum networks. To mitigate decoherence effects induced by the environment, rephasing of the hyperfine coherences using microwave pulses have been implemented in a variety of single-emitter and ensemble-based solid-state systems. However, the demonstration of storage of single photons in an absorptive quantum memory including such a spin-rephasing mechanism remains elusive. In this Letter, we show nonclassical storage of telecom-heralded single photons in a Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} rare-earth ion doped crystal quantum memory using the atomic frequency comb spin-wave protocol combined with a XY4 spin-rephasing sequence. Long-lived atomic frequency comb photon echoes are first observed in the classical regime for storage times of up to approximately 3 ms. We then demonstrate nonclassical correlations between heralding photons and stored signal photons generated by a cavity-enhanced parametric photon-pair source for storage times of up to 180 μs and with measured cross-correlation values as high as 4.6(4). Together with the capacity of Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} quantum memories to support highly efficient and multiplexed storage, this result represents a significant step toward scalable long-distance quantum repeater links.
Related
- A Fibre-Integrated SPDC Heralded Single-Photon Source Using Zn-Indiffused PPLN Ridge Waveguides at Telecom Wavelengths
- A Fibre-Integrated SPDC Heralded Single-Photon Source Using Zn-Indiffused PPLN Ridge Waveguides at Telecom Wavelengths
- Programmable photonic state fusion via heralded storage of asynchronously generated resources
- Generation of tunable wavelength coherent states and heralded single photons for quantum optics applications
- Hybrid Heralded Noiseless Amplification with Finite-Cutoff Quantum Scissors
BibTeX
@article{rodriguezmoldes2026longlived,
title = {{Long-Lived Telecom-Heralded Single-Photon Storage in an Absorptive Spin-Rephased Quantum Memory}},
author = {Alberto Rodríguez-Moldes and Félicien Appas and Jonathan Hänni and Jelena Rakonjac and Samuele Grandi and Hugues de Riedmatten},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1103/ftkb-pkvp},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05787606v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Long-Lived Telecom-Heralded Single-Photon Storage in an Absorptive Spin-Rephased Quantum Memory
AU - Alberto Rodríguez-Moldes
AU - Félicien Appas
AU - Jonathan Hänni
AU - Jelena Rakonjac
AU - Samuele Grandi
AU - Hugues de Riedmatten
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
JO - Physical Review Letters
DO - 10.1103/ftkb-pkvp
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05787606v1
AB - Long-lived storage of single photons under the form of atomic excitations is at the foundation of long-distance entanglement distribution in quantum networks. To mitigate decoherence effects induced by the environment, rephasing of the hyperfine coherences using microwave pulses have been implemented in a variety of single-emitter and ensemble-based solid-state systems. However, the demonstration of storage of single photons in an absorptive quantum memory including such a spin-rephasing mechanism remains elusive. In this Letter, we show nonclassical storage of telecom-heralded single photons in a Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} rare-earth ion doped crystal quantum memory using the atomic frequency comb spin-wave protocol combined with a XY4 spin-rephasing sequence. Long-lived atomic frequency comb photon echoes are first observed in the classical regime for storage times of up to approximately 3 ms. We then demonstrate nonclassical correlations between heralding photons and stored signal photons generated by a cavity-enhanced parametric photon-pair source for storage times of up to 180 μs and with measured cross-correlation values as high as 4.6(4). Together with the capacity of Pr^{3+}:Y_{2}SiO_{5} quantum memories to support highly efficient and multiplexed storage, this result represents a significant step toward scalable long-distance quantum repeater links.
SN - 0031-9007
SN - 1079-7114
ER -