A quantum memory at telecom wavelengths
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Abstract
Nanofabricated mechanical resonators are gaining significant momentum among\npotential quantum technologies due to their unique design freedom and\nindependence from naturally occurring resonances. With their functionality\nbeing widely detached from material choice, they constitute ideal tools to be\nused as transducers, i.e. intermediaries between different quantum systems, and\nas memory elements in conjunction with quantum communication and computing\ndevices. Their capability to host ultra-long lived phonon modes is\nparticularity attractive for non-classical information storage, both for future\nquantum technologies as well as for fundamental tests of physics. Here we\ndemonstrate such a mechanical quantum memory with an energy decay time of\n$T_1\\approx2$ ms, which is controlled through an optical interface engineered\nto natively operate at telecom wavelengths. We further investigate the\ncoherence of the memory, equivalent to the dephasing $T_2^*$ for qubits, which\nexhibits a power dependent value between 15 and 112 $\\mu$s. This demonstration\nis enabled by a novel optical scheme to create a superposition state of\n$\\rvert{0}\\rangle+\\rvert{1}\\rangle$ mechanical excitations, with an arbitrary\nratio between the vacuum and single phonon components.\n