This is a project is of experimental and theoretical research towards the realization of the quantum repeater, the workhorse of long-distance quantum communication. The repeater will consist of ultracold atomic ensembles as memory elements. The quantum repeater is based on interfacing photonic communication channels with information storage elements. The cornerstones of the proposed activity are: (I) the synthesis of telecommunication wavelength photons and long-lived atomic storage, via atomic cascade transitions, and (II) the multiplexing of atomic memory elements to drastically ameliorate the dependence on storage lifetime. These innovations address key difficulties of earlier quantum repeater architectures. The communication rate of a quantum network depends critically on the storage time of the memory elements. Multiplexing can increase these rates by many orders of magnitude for short memory times. The proposed multiplexed quantum repeater will enable quantum telecommunication with very significantly reduced memory lifetime demands. The goals present essential challenges and will have a significant influence on the future development of the field of quantum information. Besides offering fundamentally more secure ways to communicate, quantum networks may provide the structure for distributed quantum computation. The completion of this program will result in the development of new tools for long-distance communication over telecommunication fiber. The project will involve extensive student training and participation, including undergraduate students and minority groups.
