Manipulating frequency-bin entangled states in cold atoms.

Optical manipulation of entanglement harnessing the frequency degree of freedom is important for encoding of quantum information. We here devise a phase-resonant excitation mechanism of an atomic interface where full control of a narrowband single-photon two-mode frequency entangled state can be efficiently achieved. We illustrate the working physical mechanism for an interface made of cold (87)Rb atoms where entanglement is well preserved from degradation over a typical 100 μm length scale of the interface and with fractional delays of the order of unity. The scheme provides a basis for efficient multi-frequency and multi-photon entanglement, which is not easily accessible to polarization and spatial encoding.