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Doubly heralded single-photon absorption by a single atom

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Abstract

We report on a single-photon-to-single-atom interface, where a single photon generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is absorbed by a single trapped ion. The photon is heralded by its time-correlated partner generated in the SPDC process, while the absorption event is heralded by a single photon emitted in its course. Coincidence detection marks doubly heralded absorption, enabling photon-to-atom quantum state transfer (Kurz et al. in Nat Commun 5:5527, 2014; Müller and Eschner in Appl Phys B 114:303, 2013). Background in the coincidence measurement is strongly suppressed by a new method that discriminates real absorption events from dark-count-induced coincidences.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support by the BMBF (Verbundprojekt Q.com, CHIST-ERA project QScale), the German Scholars Organization/Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, and the ESF (IOTA COST Action). J. Brito acknowledges support by CONICYT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Experimentalphysik, Universität des Saarlandes, Campus E2 6, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany

    J. Brito, S. Kucera, P. Eich, P. Müller & J. Eschner

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  1. J. Brito
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  2. S. Kucera
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  3. P. Eich
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  4. P. Müller
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  5. J. Eschner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Eschner.

Additional information

This paper is part of the topical collection “Quantum Repeaters: From Components to Strategies” guest edited by Manfred Bayer, Christoph Becher and Peter van Loock.

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Brito, J., Kucera, S., Eich, P. et al. Doubly heralded single-photon absorption by a single atom. Appl. Phys. B 122, 36 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-015-6276-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-015-6276-9

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