Quantum memory systems and quantum repeater systems comprising doped polycrystalline ceramic optical devices and methods of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10304536-B2
Application number	US-201816036297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2018
Priority date	May 13, 2016
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

A quantum memory system includes a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, and one or more pump lasers. The doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field, the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic, and the doped polycrystalline ceramic is doped with a rare-earth element dopant that is uniformly distributed within a crystal lattice of the doped polycrystalline ceramic.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A quantum memory system comprising a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, a storage photon generator, and one or more pump lasers, wherein:
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field;
the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the storage photon generator is optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic and is structurally configured to output an entangled pair of storage photons comprising a first entangled storage photon entangled with a second entangled storage photon; and
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is doped with a rare-earth element dopant that is uniformly distributed within a crystal lattice of the doped polycrystalline ceramic and comprises about 0.01% to about 2% of a total molecular weight of the doped polycrystalline ceramic, wherein:
the one or more pump lasers are configured to irradiate the doped polycrystalline ceramic and generate a shaped spectral structure within the rare-earth element dopant of the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the rare-earth element dopant is configured to absorb a storage photon traversing the doped polycrystalline ceramic when (i) the storage photon transfers a superposition of the shaped spectral structure of the rare-earth element dopant from a first split ground state to an excited energy state and (ii), upon receipt of a first pump pulse output by the one or more pump lasers, the first pump pulse transfers the superposition of the shaped spectral structure of the rare-earth element dopant from the excited energy state into a second split ground state; and
the rare-earth element dopant is configured to release the storage photon when (i) the superposition of the shaped spectral structure of the rare-earth element dopant is transferred from the second split ground state to the excited energy state, upon receipt of a second pump pulse output by the one or more pump lasers and (ii) the superposition of the shaped spectral structure of the rare-earth element dopant automatically releases the storage photon after a delay period such that the storage photon exits the doped polycrystalline ceramic.

2. The quantum memory system of claim 1 , wherein the doped polycrystalline ceramic comprises yttrium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof.

3. The quantum memory system of claim 1 , wherein the doped polycrystalline ceramic is voidless.

4. A quantum memory system comprising a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, a storage photon generator, and one or more pump lasers, wherein:
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field;
the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the storage photon generator is optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic and is structurally configured to output an entangled pair of storage photons comprising a first entangled storage photon entangled with a second entangled storage photon; and
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is doped with a rare-earth element dopant that is uniformly distributed within a crystal lattice of the doped polycrystalline ceramic and comprises about 0.01% to about 2% of a total molecular weight of the doped polycrystalline ceramic, wherein the doped polycrystalline ceramic is a core of a waveguide, the quantum memory system further comprising a cladding surrounding the core.

5. The quantum memory system of claim 4 , wherein the core comprises yttrium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof and the cladding comprises yttrium oxide or polymer.

6. The quantum memory system of claim 4 , wherein the rare-earth element dopant comprises erbium, thulium, praseodymium, or a combination thereof.

7. A quantum memory system comprising a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, a storage photon generator, and one or more pump lasers, wherein:
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field;
the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the storage photon generator is optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic and is structurally configured to output an entangled pair of storage photons comprising a first entangled storage photon entangled with a second entangled storage photon; and
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is doped with a rare-earth element dopant that is uniformly distributed within a crystal lattice of the doped polycrystalline ceramic and comprises about 0.01% to about 2% of a total molecular weight of the doped polycrystalline ceramic, wherein the rare-earth element dopant comprises between about 0.05% to about 0.15% of a total molecular weight of the doped polycrystalline ceramic.

8. A quantum memory system comprising a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, a storage photon generator, and one or more pump lasers, wherein:
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field;
the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the storage photon generator is optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic and is structurally configured to output an entangled pair of storage photons comprising a first entangled storage photon entangled with a second entangled storage photon; and
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is doped with a rare-earth element dopant that is uniformly distributed within a crystal lattice of the doped polycrystalline ceramic and comprises about 0.01% to about 2% of a total molecular weight of the doped polycrystalline ceramic, further comprising an optical circulator optically coupled to a first end of the doped polycrystalline ceramic, wherein the optical circulator comprises a first optical port, a second optical port, and a third optical port.

9. The quantum memory system of claim 8 , wherein:
the optical circulator is positioned between the storage photon generator and the first end of the doped polycrystalline ceramic such that the first optical port of the optical circulator is optically coupled to the storage photon generator and the second optical port is optically coupled to the first end of the doped polycrystalline ceramic; and
the optical circulator positioned between at least one of the one or more pump lasers and the first end of the doped polycrystalline ceramic such that the first optical port of the optical circulator is optically coupled to at least one of the one or more pump lasers and the second optical port is optically coupled to the first end of the doped polycrystalline ceramic.

10. The quantum memory system of claim 8 , wherein the third optical port of the optical circulator is optically coupled to a wavelength division multiplexer.

11. A quantum memory system comprising a doped polycrystalline ceramic, a magnetic field generation unit, a storage photon generator, and one or more pump lasers, wherein:
the doped polycrystalline ceramic is positioned within a magnetic field of the magnetic field generation unit when the magnetic field generation unit generates the magnetic field;
the one or more pump lasers are optically coupled to the doped polycrystalline ceramic;
the storage photon genera

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Brown Jason Allen
• Ketcham Thomas Dale
• Nolan Daniel Aloysius
• Senaratne Wageesha
• Yang Jun
• Zhang Haitao

Classifications

• C04B2235/9646

  Optical properties · CPC title

• C04B2235/3224

  Rare earth oxide or oxide forming salts thereof, e.g. scandium oxide · CPC title

• G11C13/04

  using optical elements {; using other beam accessed elements, e.g. electron or ion beam} · CPC title

• C04B35/505

  based on yttrium oxide · CPC title

• H04B10/70

  Photonic quantum communication · CPC title