We propose a scheme to realize optical quantum memories in an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond that are coupled to a micro-cavity. The scheme is based on off-resonant Raman coupling, which allows one to circumvent optical inhomogeneous broadening and store optical photons in the electronic spin coherence. This approach promises a storage time of order one second and a time-bandwidth product of order 107. We include all possible optical transitions in a 9-level configuration, numerically evaluate the efficiencies and discuss the requirements for achieving high efficiency and fidelity.
@article{arxiv.1312.5342,
title = {Raman quantum memory based on an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers coupled to a microcavity},
author = {Khabat Heshami and Charles Santori and Behzad Khanaliloo and Chris Healey and Victor M. Acosta and Paul E. Barclay and Christoph Simon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.5342},
year = {2014}
}