Long-lived non-classical correlations towards quantum communication at room temperature

Heralded single-photon sources with on-demand readout are a key enabling technology for distributed photonic networks. Such sources have been demonstrated in both cryogenic solid-state and cold-atoms systems. Practical long-distance quantum communication may benefit from using technologically simple systems such as room-temperature atomic vapours. However, atomic motion has so far limited the single-excitation lifetime in such systems to the microsecond range. Here we demonstrate efficient heralding and readout of single collective excitations created in warm caesium vapour. Using the principle of motional averaging we achieve a collective excitation lifetime of 0.27 +/- 0.04 ms, two orders of magnitude larger than previously achieved for single excitations in room-temperature sources. We experimentally verify non-classicality of the light-matter correlations by observing a violation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality with R = 1.4 +/- 0.1 > 1. Through spectral and temporal analysis we investigate the readout noise that limits single-photon operation of the source.