Cavity Optomechanical Quantum Memory for Twisted Photons Using a Ring BEC

Abstract

We theoretically propose a photonic orbital angular momentum (OAM) quantum memory platform based on an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a ring trap and placed inside a Fabry-Perot cavity driven by Laguerre-Gaussian beams. In contrast to electromagnetically induced transparency-based protocols, our memory does not require change of internal atomic levels. The optical states are instead stored in the large Hilbert space of topologically protected and long-lived motional states (persistent currents) of the condensate, yielding a storage time three orders of magnitude better than presently available. Further, the use of a cavity provides orders of magnitude more resonances, and hence bandwidth, for reading and writing than internal atomic transitions. Finally, the analogy to cavity optomechanics suggests a natural path to wavelength conversion, OAM transduction, and nondestructive readout of the memory.