Praseodymium ions for solid state quantum memory.

Rare-earth ion doped crystals, owing to the protected optical transition of Lanthanides, offer unique potential to build fully integrated quantum information devices. We investigate atom-light interactions in Pr:YSO solid state crystal to develop efficient single photon storage devices. We use broadband atomic frequency comb (AFC) protocol to spectrally shape the inhomogenously broadened optical transition of Praseodymium ions. W study the effects of hyperfine splitting to generate high quality atomic frequency combs for quantum memory devices. We further utilize rephasing effect of atomic dipoles to demonstrate efficient storage and retrieval of optical pulses through photon echo measurements.