Buchler, BenjaminEverett, JesseCHO, YOUNG-WOOKTranter, AaronSlatyer, HarryHush, MichaelPaul, KarunVernaz-Gris, PierreLeung, AnthonyHigginbottom, DanielLam, Ping KoyCampbell, Geoff2020-06-30May 13-18978-155752820-9http://hdl.handle.net/1885/205650Quantum information systems demand methods for the storage and manipulation of qubits. For optical qubits, atomic ensembles provide a potential platform for such operations. In this work, we demonstrate a stopped light optical quantum memory with efficiency up to 87%. We also demonstrate and visualise stationary light, which could potentially enhance weak optical nonlinearities. At the heart of our experiments is a laser-cooled atomic ensemble, which has recently been optimised with the help of a machine learning system that uses an artificial neural network.application/pdfen-AU© OSA 2018201810.1364/CLEO_QELS.2018.FM1G.52020-01-27