Everett, Jesse L.Papneja, AnkitTrainor, CameronTranter, Aaron D.Buchler, Ben C.2025-06-112025-06-111367-2630WOS:001233339500001ORCID:/0000-0002-2852-7483/work/168398254ORCID:/0000-0002-6290-9354/work/168401534http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194490216&partnerID=8YFLogxKhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733758582Optical quantum memories are essential for quantum communications and photonic quantum technologies. Ensemble optical memories based on 3-level interactions are a popular basis for implementing these memories. All such memories, however, suffer from loss due to scattering. In off-resonant 3-level interactions, such as the Raman gradient echo memory (GEM), scattering loss can be reduced by a large detuning from the intermediate state. In this work, we show how electromagnetically induced transparency adjacent to the Raman absorption line plays a crucial role in reducing scattering loss, so that maximum efficiency is in fact achieved at a moderate detuning. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the transparency, and therefore the efficiency of GEM, depends on the order in which gradients are applied to store and recall the light. We provide a theoretical analysis and show experimentally how the efficiency depends on gradient order and detuning.This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (Grant No. CE170100012).9enPublisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.Cold atom memoryElectromagnetically-induced transparencyGradient echo memoryOptical quantum memory202410.1088/1367-2630/ad4abb85194490216